Hannah Arendt: Only within the Limits of Nature is Freedom Possible

Hannah Arendt is the thinker of the modern age and of political freedom. Which is why she is often quoted in times of turmoil – be they crises or revolutions. In the current corona crisis, Arendt’s reflections on totalitarianism seem vitally relevant once again, in pointing out the political and social dangers of a continuing state of emergency. But this is only a one-sided view of political freedom, as demonstrated by, among other things, the current appropriation of the term among the populist far-right and conspiracy theorists. We are at risk of suffering a much greater loss of freedom, as, in the planetary order of things we are overstepping the limits of nature and thus endangering the very conditions for life between peoples and species.