The central events of our time are not less effectively forgotten by those committed to a belief in an unavoidable doom, than by those who have given themselves up to reckless optimism. Desperate hope and desperate fear often seem closer to the center of such events than balanced judgment and measured insight.
Although it may seem better preserved in some parts of the world than in others, it can nowhere provide the guidance to the possibilities of the century, or an adequate response to its horrors. On the level of historical insight and political thought there prevails an ill-defined, general agreement that the essential structure of all civilizations is at the breaking point. It is as though mankind had divided itself between those who believe in human omnipotence (who think that everything is possible if one knows how to organize masses for it) and those for whom powerlessness has become the major experience of their lives. Never has our future been more unpredictable, never have we depended so much on political forces that cannot be trusted to follow the rules of common sense and self-interest-forces that look like sheer insanity, if judged by the standards of other centuries. Under the most diverse conditions and disparate circumstances, we watch the development of the same phenomena-homelessness on an unprecedented scale, rootlessness to an unprecedented depth. We no longer hope for an eventual restoration of the old world order with all its traditions, or for the reintegration of the masses of five continents who have been thrown into a chaos produced by the violence of wars and revolutions and the growing decay of all that has still been spared. This moment of anticipation is like the calm that settles after all hopes have died. TWO WORLD WARS in one generation, separated by an uninterrupted chain of local wars and revolutions, followed by no peace treaty for the vanquished and no respite for the victor, have ended in the anticipation of a third World War between the two remaining world powers. KARL JASPERS Preface to the First Edition Es kommt darauf an, ganz gegenwärtig zu sein. Weder dem Vergangenen anheimfallen noch dem Zukünftigen. The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:Ĭontents: pt. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of GovernmentĬopyright renewed 1951, 1948 by Hannah ArendtĬopyright renewed 1979 by Mary McCarthy WestĪll rights reserved. The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man The Political Emancipation of the BourgeoisieĬontinental Imperialism: the Pan Movements The Jews, the Nation-State, and the Birth of Antisemitism Antisemitism as an Outrage to Common Sense
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