From the Politics of Compassion to Imagination: Hannah Arendt on Collectivized Affect

Marieke Borren, in her article, “From the Politics of Compassion to Imagination: Hannah Arendt on Collectivized Affect,” goes into Arendt’s belief that compassion is a bad counselor in political affairs, especially when it comes to refugees, the poor and low-skilled workers. Today, many theorists of affect are committed to progressive politics and do not just analyze the affective dimensions of collective political action, but moreover, valorize the “collectivization” of emotion as serving emancipatory causes. In stark contrast, affects, in Arendt’s view, are a poor ground for solidarity, engagement with one’s fellow citizens or human beings – who typically are “anonymous” others most of the time – and for political community. This reticence has caused many readers to accuse Arendt of either heartlessness or rationalism. However, instead of loving or pitying human beings or the Other – amor homines – Arendt advocates a much cooler and distant care for the world – amor mundi. Imagination, representative thinking and care for the world are Arendt’s timely alternatives for the politics of compassion.