Arendt, Augustine, and the New Beginning: The Action Theory and Moral Thought of Hannah Arendt in the Light of Her Dissertation on St. Augustine

Kampowski (moral philosophy, Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Rome) disagrees with scholars who claim that Arendt's (1906-75) later political thought in the US cannot be understood without a knowledge of her Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin, which she wrote during the late 1920s before she engaged politics. Nevertheless, he argues, studying the dissertation is worthwhile for helping identify some of the themes that remain constant throughout the wandering that her work over her lifetimes enjoyed. He focuses in particular on her theory of action, tracing the influence on it back through Western philosophy to Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-403). His study served as a doctoral dissertation at the Institute in May 2005. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)