Hannah Arendt on the Augustinian Concept of Love

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of Augustine's work on Hannah Arendt's oeuvre. Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin. Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation (1929), Arendt's dissertation on Augustine, is analyzed in order to understand how its key concepts continue to be operative in Arendt's later, mature works. The dissertation is relevant to the entire Arendtian oeuvre, as it deals with topics that were absorbed into Arendt's own thinking and help to identify the main nodes of her philosophical thought. This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the impact of Augustine's work on Arendt's and contributes to the understanding of her thought as a whole.