Arendtian Understanding and Feminism

Aoife McInerney, in her article, “Feminism and Understanding: An Arendtian Account,” discusses Hannah Arendt’s concept of understanding in light of how it addresses experiences of being alienated from the world and helps to overcome those experiences. Understanding to Arendt is an unending activity by which we come to terms with and reconcile ourselves to reality, and try to be at home in the world. This is the existential and alienating condition of those who recognize themselves as the victims of – and even the unwitting perpetrators of – systems of oppression. Arendtian understanding means to reconcile one’s self to the times in which one lives without having to accept them and, as such, aligns with the experiences of feminists.