Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis essay uses the political writings of Hannah Arendt to explore the virtue of courage. Courage is regarded as a risk taken in the pursuit or defense of some normative end. But what does political courage look like when, as an outgrowth of neoliberal optimism, our sense of the present and the risks it poses to our cherished normative aims is itself dilated? The answer that this essay proposes is that we must think of courage in its relationship to kairos (timeliness). Using Arendt's writings on the pariah tradition, this essay suggests three vectors of timely courage. These are keeping pace with political events as they unfold; withdrawing from political life to care concretely for others; and finally, developing a sensibility for the new through artistic creations that give insights into our shared future.