Hannah Arendt Days

Organized by the Cankarjev dom, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Goethe-Institut Ljubljana and the Peace Institute, Ljubljana

Organising committee: Dr. Vlasta Jalušič, Dr. Gorazd Kovačič, Dr. Sašo Jerše, Dr. Urban Šrimpf, Barbara Rogelj.

On 4 December 1975, sixty-nine years old Hannah Arendt, one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated and quoted political thinkers, died in her 370 Riverside Drive apartment. Her writings and unparalleled life story have become a source of inspiration for many generations to come, as well as a source of much political and philosophical controversy. After her death, a sheet of paper was found in her typewriter, blank except for the heading of her book in the making, The Life of the Mind, which she was unfortunately unable to complete, just as she never finished the book she wanted to write on politics, even though this was a theme running through all her writings. But works such as The Origins of Totalitarianism, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Vita Activa or The Human Condition, On Lying and Politics, Between Past and Future, and many others have become indispensable references for critical political thinking and for addressing the fundamental questions in the Western tradition of political philosophy, the nature of politics and modern forms of government, human rights, the state and sovereignty, as well as racism, anti-Semitism, imperialism, and their implications.

The conference commemorating the semicentennial of the death of Hannah Arendt aims to pay tribute to her undying legacy and reflect on the relevance of her thought in the 21st century. Invited speakers include Arendt experts from Germany, Spain, the US and Slovenia. The theme of the conference is Hannah Arendt's thought today. 

Invited international participants
Thomas Meyer, Philosophy Professor at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, editor of a scholarly edition of Hannah Arendt's works and author of a biography of Hannah Arendt (2023).

Wolfgang Heuer, Lecturer at the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science of the Free University Berlin, and managing editor of HannahArendt.net, Journal for Political Thinking, author and editor of numerous books on Hannah Arendt.

Cristina Sánchez Munoz, Professor of Philosophy of Law at the Autonomous University of Madrid, International Association of Women Philosophers IAPh Co-Speaker, author of two books and numerous articles on Hannah Arendt, including a book on Simone de Beauvoir.

Eric L. Santner, Professor in Modern Germanic Studies at the University of Chicago, focuses in particular on the influence of Arendt's notions of statelessness and human rights on Agamben's Homo Sacer Project.

Joris Roelofs, musician, composer and clarinettist, chairs the Clarinet Department (Jazz) at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He teaches music and philosophy, his dissertation deals with the political dimension of improvisation, including in the thought of Hannah Arendt. 
https://www.jorisroelofs.com/bio/

 
Slovenian participants
Vlasta Jalušič, Senior Research Fellow at the Peace Institute and sociology professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, author and editor of books and articles on Hannah Arendt and editor and translator of her works into Slovenian. Corresponding editor HannahArendt.net. 

Gorazd Kovačič, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, author of a book on Hannah Arendt's concept of the social and sociality and articles on Hannah Arendt.

Mirt Komel, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, translator and expert on Hannah Arendt, author of articles on Hannah Arendt.
 

Programme 
Friday, 10 October
10:30–11:30: Opening – representatives of the organisers, welcome addresses 

11:45–13:30 Thomas Meyer: How should the Palestinian refugee problem be solved? Hannah Arendt's answer from 1958.

Gorazd Kovačič: Hannah Arendt's writings on Palestine
Facilitator: Vlasta Jalušič

13:30–15:00 lunch 

15:00–16:45 Wolfgang Heuer: Reading Arendt in dark times
Cristina Sanchez: Thinking violence and war with Arendt: old and new scenarios
Facilitator: Gorazd Kovačič

18.00: dinner
20.00: Joris Roelofs concert: Arendt Jazz Hour

Saturday, 11 October
10:00–11:45 Joris Roelofs: Hannah Arendt's political conception of art as it relates to improvisation
Vlasta Jalušič: Arendt's unique notion of politics
Facilitator: Mirt Komel

12:00–13:45  Eric Santner: Arendt reads Rilke 
Mirt Komel: Arendt and the Greeks
Facilitator: Simon Hajdini

13:45–14.00: closing

14:00: lunch