Zur Kritik der Liebe

Hannah Arendt und Augustinus

Arendt’s examination of Augustine’s concept of love reveals five points of criticism, four of which she considers as highly problematic, while she positively evaluates the other one. These points of criticism regard the division of the concept of love into caritas and cupiditas, the moral charging o...

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Bibliographic Details
Author:Frauke A. Kurbacher
Published: S.n., s.l., 2021
Volume:71
Pages:215-229
Language:German
Periodical:Augustiniana
Number:2
ISSN:0004-8003
Format:Article
Topic:- Works > Studies on Vocabulary/Themes > Topics - Latin vocabulary > A > Appetitus
- Doctrine > From man to God > [Morale] > [Charité. Amitié] > [Charité/amour du prochain]
- Influence and Survival > [Époque Contemporaine (1789-1960)] > Authors > Arendt, Hannah (1906-1975)
Status:Active
Description
Summary:Arendt’s examination of Augustine’s concept of love reveals five points of criticism, four of which she considers as highly problematic, while she positively evaluates the other one. These points of criticism regard the division of the concept of love into caritas and cupiditas, the moral charging of both parts, and the resulting relation to the world, namely a self-denial required by Augustine, a critically questioned relation to others in charity, and a positively understood renunciation of the self via love. Arendt’s criticism of Augustine, however, also casts a critical reflection on her own conception of love in the philosophical discourse. The ‘criticism of love’ illuminates in a very effective way and not to a small extent the genesis of our personal and social ethical self-understandings as such, which have to be understood in terms of responsibility.