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> No doubt, it is obvious and of great consequence that this passion for freedom for its own sake awoke in and was nourished by men of leisure, by the hommes de
by jancsika 9y ago
> No doubt, it is obvious and of great consequence that this passion for freedom for its own sake awoke in and was nourished by men of leisure, by the hommes de lettres who had no masters and were not always busy making a living. In other words, they enjoyed the privileges of Athenian and Roman citizens without taking part in those affairs of state that so occupied the freemen of antiquity. Needless to add, where men live in truly miserable conditions this passion for freedom is unknown.
It's been awhile since I read about it, but I'm fairly certain Spanish anarchism in the latter half of the 19th century developed among peasants and factory workers living in "truly miserable conditions." They were concerned with freedom as Arendt defines it: "admission to the public realm and participation in public affairs."
- 68c12c16 9y agoI think, by "men of leisure" as in "this passion for freedom for its own sake awoke in and was nourished by men of leisure, by the hommes de lettres who had no masters and were not always busy making a living." Arendt means those people who participated in the American Revolution (1775) and the upper middle class members in the Third Estate who pioneered the French Revolution (1789). The Spanish anarchism and the Revolutions of 1848 could somewhat be viewed as some parts of a long series of consequences of the French Revolution (1789). I feel Her essay touches many points about various revolutions in Europe in the second millennium and her emphasis may not just simply lie at the beginning or the end of this lecture notes. There are quite lot of details and points to argue here.