Hannah Arendt and Human Rights: The Predicament of Common Responsibility

"Peg Birmingham's reading of Arendt's work is absolutely unique. She
seeks nothing less than an ontological foundation of the political, and in
particular, the notion of human rights." -- Bernard Flynn, The New School for
Social Research

Hannah Arendt's most important contribution to
political thought may be her well-known and often-cited notion of the "right to
have rights." In this incisive and wide-ranging book, Peg Birmingham explores
the theoretical and social foundations of Arendt's philosophy on human rights.
Devoting special consideration to questions and issues surrounding Arendt's ideas of
common humanity, human responsibility, and natality, Birmingham formulates a more
complex view of how these basic concepts support Arendt's theory of human rights.
Birmingham considers Arendt's key philosophical works along with her literary
writings, especially those on Walter Benjamin and Franz Kafka, to reveal the extent
of Arendt's commitment to humanity even as violence, horror, and pessimism overtook
Europe during World War II and its aftermath. This current and lively book makes a
significant contribution to philosophy, political science, and European intellectual
history.