Arendt (188)
Action and speech are surrounded by and in constant contact with the web of the acts and words of other men
In this week’s readings I came to focus in on the ideas of action and appearance in public. Arednt posits, one of the fundamental characteristics of the human condition is action. For the author, an essential feature of action is freedom and plurality. Arendt does not mean freedom like American apple pie or the ability to make life choices, rather the principal of freedom lies in human ability to begin something new (177-178). Arendt furthers by pairing action with speech and notes, words allow for a type of “second birth”- new beginnings brought out of our own initiatives (176). Plurality then refers to the fact that in order to truly act, it has to be done in the presence of others (188). Just as theater necessitates a spectator, action requires the presence of others. The “space of appearance” therefore becomes a public sphere where “men are together in a manner of speech and action” (199).
Butler takes takes on Arednt by postulating these spaces are built by political action but first she confronts some limitations to Arednt’s analysis. She argues, the philosopher’s perspective is muddied by it’s inherent gender politics. Arendt’s body in public is presumptively male leaving the body in private to be female (75). While Butler recognizes the gender politics was not was at the helm of Arednt’s argument, she highlights, “the sphere of appearance is not that simple, since it seems to arise only on the condition of intersubjective face-off” (76) Butler aims to reimagine the “space of appearance” to consider embodied practices. She highlights, political action is also present in the ways one establishes the body to act between other bodies (a nod to the earlier chapters where she discusses social construction) (77). The coming together in itself is both a political and a bodily enactment.