Thinking and Reading – Preparations for Active Life

Abstract

The aim of this article is, firstly, to illustrate how thinking is to be understood from an Arendtian perspective, and how it influences our moral judgement. Secondly, it will show how language in relation with memory and imagination is a necessity for thinking if it is understood as an inner dialogue between a ‘me and myself’. Hence, the last part of the article will illuminate the effects of language on imagination, judgement and thinking and thus the human ability for acting morally. This will be elucidated, firstly, with Herbert Marcuse’s analysis of the negative influence of a one-dimensional society’s language on human thinking, and secondly, by illustrating Arendt’s understanding and use of the metaphor as an opposite to one-dimensionality. In conclusion, Paul Ricœur’s theory of mimesis in connection with Arendt’s understanding of thinking will illustrate that the language in literature and thus reading can assist thinking and thereby be influential on our actions in active life (vita activa).

Keywords: Arendt, Kant, thinking, active life (vita activa), moral, judgment, reading, language