Lecture Series | Paper

This lecture examines plurality as a key concept for political phenomenology. As a first step, this requires reflection on what we expect from such a “key concept”: an ontological framing of the field, a normative principle for justifying specific forms of government, or a political heuristic that can develop new descriptive instruments? I will argue that Hannah Arendt’s development of her concept of plurality fulfils several of these claims. 
In a second step, I will address the nature of plurality: Is it a value, a pluralistic good, or merely the observation of the empirical fact that we are many? My answer is that plurality is a core phenomenon of human coexistence that must be actualized in order to unfold in intersubjective experience and appearance. 
The third part of the lecture deals with the normative implications of plurality. I will consider three aspects: plurality as a disruptive structure of the social; plurality as a fragile and conditional realization; and the intrinsic value of plurality as an experience of “becoming someone” and of sharing a real world together with others.
Finally, the fourth part deals with the problems of plurality. Is the concept too elitist, too individualistic, and should the demands of plurality trump those of life or truth? I will argue that a sharp juxtaposition of competing principles simplifies the existential interdependence of conditions.