VICTOR FROHLICH CORTEZ

This work seeks to discuss the theme of the break of Western tradition in Hannah Arendt's thought at some key moments in the author's work. Besides proposing a biographical overview about the thinker and a cross-study between her reading of certain authors of the German philosophical tradition and key moments in their work, our main focus is on Arendt's production between the 1940s and 1950s — especially on the texts that author writes before the publication of his first mature work, Origens do Totalitarismo (1951), and that in a certain way serve as preparation both for the different historical examinations of this book and for his understanding of the rupture of tradition, and in the work of 1951 itself. From the analysis of these texts, we primarily seek to understand how the break of the tradition carried out by totalitarianism allows us to understand that this regime not only undermines certain values of the Western tradition that were impoverished during Modernity, but radicalizes some prejudices inherent to this same tradition, prejudices without which the totalitarian regime could not have emerged. This understanding of the prejudices inherent in Western thought makes it possible to highlight how Arendt's critical position regarding the tradition of political philosophy — which, in its elementary responses, had always avoided human plurality — leads her to seek references that oppose the traditional attitude hierarchical relationship between the philosopher and the political thing — one of the most interesting elements of his intellectual contribution.