Arendt and Heidegger: the fate of the political

Introduction: The Problem of Action in Arendt -- pt. I. Arendt's Theory of Political Action. Ch. 1. Arendt, Aristotle, and Action. Ch. 2. Thinking Action against the Tradition. Ch. 3. Arendt, Nietzsche, and the "Aestheticization" of Political Action -- pt. II. Arendt and Heidegger. Ch. 4. The Heideggerian Roots of Arendt's Political Theory. Ch. 5. Groundless Action, Groundless Judgment: Politics after Metaphysics. Ch. 6. The Critique of Modernity -- pt. III. The Critique of Heidegger's Philosophical Politics. Ch. 7. Arendt, Heidegger, and the Oblivion of Praxis. Ch. 8. Heidegger, Poiesis, and Politics

Theodor Adorno once wrote an essay to "defend Bach against his devotees." In this book Dana Villa does the same for Hannah Arendt, whose sweeping reconceptualization of the nature and value of political action, he argues, has been covered over and domesticated by admirers (including critical theorists, communitarians, and participatory democrats) who had hoped to enlist her in their less radical philosophical or political projects. Against the prevailing "Aristotelian" interpretation of her work, Villa explores Arendt's modernity, and indeed her postmodernity, through the Heideggerian and Nie