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    Hannah Arendt

    “There are no dangerous thoughts; thinking itself is dangerous.”

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    “Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.”

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    Fall Conference 2023
    “Friendship & Politics”

    October 12 – 13

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    “I've begun so late, really only in recent years, to truly love the world ... Out of gratitude, I want to call my book on political theories Amor Mundi.”

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    Hannah Arendt

    “It is, in fact, far easier to act under conditions of tyranny than it is to think.”

    —Hannah Arendt
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    Hannah Arendt

    “Political questions are far too serious to be left to the politicians.”

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"The reading group has been a model of respectful discussions that don't usually assume a particular audience... I never feel like I have to make a big leap with the interpretations and editorials... Thanks Arendt Center!" 
 

"The reading group has been a model of respectful discussions that don't usually assume a particular audience... I never feel like I have to make a big leap with the interpretations and editorials... Thanks Arendt Center!" 
 

"I have been sent the newsletter for long. Most of the issues dealt with at the HAC are of the utmost importance. The introductory paragraph of the current membership drive has touched me deeply, in special its final words: "In such a world, Arendt argues, the fear of concentration camps and total domination invalidates all political differentiations and serves as 'the politically most important yardstick for judging events in our time, namely: whether they serve totalitarian domination or not.'" This helped me to overcome my doubts - why does a person living in a parochial city in the very south of the planet should join a center in the USA? - and decide to support the HAC. We share common big risks. And Arendt's works help us to understand this risks."
- Carlos Henrique Horn

"The VRG energizes me every week. Summer doldrums are a drag. Quite ready to get sustained reading going again. And it is though the VRG that I've started to make important connections. We established a small working group on Ukraine!"
-Jason Winn

"I had hoped to write my master's thesis on Hannah Arendt's idea of forgiveness from the Human Condition back in 1980. Things worked out differently, and I didn't go back to Catholic University the next year. I still have a tremendous interest in HA, and discovering the HAC earlier this year has been a Godsend. With a little luck, after my retirement from active parish ministry in 5 years, I may go back and finish that master's degree. If I do, hearing the profound and invaluable discussions about HA will make me much more thoughtful about her than when I was 22 years old."
-Fr. Sinclair Oubre

"The central problems of Hannah Arendt's thought continue to haunt our society today: the crisis of democracy, the refugee crisis, the crisis of state authority, individual responsibility and, needless to say, the banality of evil. Her work should be read with the utmost attention by those of us who live after the circumstances she reflects on but which seem to return continually. I understand that she did not define herself as a philosopher, but she is probably the kind of philosophy we need: the sensitivity to understand."
-Diolinda Ramírez-Gutiérrez

The HAC is a space that has inspired my daily life and has contributed enormously to my training as a humanist. Thanks to all the people who make the Virtual Reading Group a plural space.
- Denisse Mendoza Jaimes

Psychoanalysis needs ways to think about the psychic life of power/social relations and has much to contribute to further understanding of how the human kind of being creates and needs or lives in a embedded matrix of power relations that inexorably have psychic life.
- David Brooks

Being a member the past several years has certainly nudged me and expanded my thinking...in ways I wasn't prepared for though I assumed I was well acquainted with Arendt's ideas already. Maybe now more than ever I was able to see and hear this in a deeper way...and we all truly need to dig deep, look back, understand where we are today, and look forward IF we hope to continue to oppose, challenge and criticize our leaders and our countrymen and ourselves.
—Lee Lindenlaub

The VRG meetings helped me to get through the isolation of the quarantine, and gave me a pleasant sense of belonging to this exciting/thoughtful human (although virtual) community. I enjoyed very much listening to other people’s thoughts and experiences while discovering Hannah Arendt’s books and teachings. I appreciate that and intend to keep participating. 
—Umsza Marcelo
 
The dialogue and open discourse provided by the Center within the framework of Hannah Arendt's work is vitally important as it provides an offset to the  prevailing cognitive malfunction. This offering by Roger Berkowitz and crew is a real gift and I am glad to contribute to their effort.
—Harold Bush

I deeply appreciate the balance and quality of thought you bring - your ethos is inspiring and gratifying on many levels. 
—David Bell, PHD

The Hannah Arendt reading group has been so exciting for me these past few months - very happy to support this center!
—Benjamin Holmes

After reading about the virtual reading group in the NYT I was intrigued to see what it was all about. I have LOVED the sessions. They are challenging, yet accessible and I'm amazed at the perspectives and insights. Thank you.
—Mary O'Neill

I have enjoyed Arendt for years and the Arendt Center's Reading Group more recently. The updates from the center have been great, and I am finally in an economic position to give something back.

—Garrett Tur

Membership Levels

Click below to gift a membership, give a one-time donation, or join at any level. 

Give now

All levels include:

​​​​​​
1. Access to the Virtual Reading Group
2. Two complimentary entrances to our
Spring Social and
Annual Conference
3. 20% Discount at Oblong Books 

 

  • Student Membership
    Complimentary admission to the annual fall conference and access to the Virtual Reading Group.
    $25
  • Senior Citizens and Armed Services
    Complimentary admission to the annual fall conference and access to the Virtual Reading Group.
    $50
  • Standard Membership
    Includes Student Membership perks, plus a copy of the current HA Journal and our newest tote bag.

    $100
  • Arendt Scholar Membership
    Includes Standard Membership perks, and a copy of The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition.
    $350
  • Thinkers' Circle
    Includes Standard Membership perks, an invitation to our Conference Dinner, and the limited edition "Hannah Arendt Center: Centenary Print" by artist David Schorr. Read more about the print here.
    $1,000
  • Benefactor
    Includes all Thinkers' Circle and Standard perks, plus special invitations to private Hannah Arendt Center discussions at Bard College and New York City.
    $5,000
Enjoy this session of the recent VRG series on Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition, led by Roger Berkowitz.

The Virtual Reading Group
 

Members Participate for Free!
Members of the Hannah Arendt Center and Bard College students are invited to join us for the Virtual Reading Group, held regularly online and led by Director Roger Berkowitz. This summer VRG is reading Arendt's Last Interviews, and in the fall, The Jewish Writings.
 

Learn more >>

An end of year message from our Founder & Academic Director Roger Berkowitz

An end of year message from our Founder & Academic Director Roger Berkowitz

Give the Gift of Thinking in the spirit of Hannah Arendt. Gift a friend, a relative, or even an antagonist a membership to the Hannah Arendt Center. Members gain access to our Virtual Reading Group, and receive two complimentary entrances to our Spring Social and our Annual Conference!

The 2023 Fall Conference will take place on October 12-13, 2023! The Conference, Friendship and Politics, will ask about the importance of friendship in life and in politics. At a time when surveys show that over 30% of Americans report having not even one friend whom they can trust, the crisis of friendship is caught up in our epidemic of loneliness. Social media, which promises us easy friendships, further dilutes the bonds of friendship. And hyper-partisan politics suggests that we can only be friends with those whom we agree with politically. The conference hopes to remember and recover Arendt’s faith in the promise of civic friendship as a basis for pluralist democracy. As is always the case, members attend for free and bring a friend with them. 
 

Read the full letter

Keep the Conversation Going

Conference 2023: "Friendship and Politics"

Conference 2023: "Friendship and Politics"

Registration opens in early 2023
HAC Members Save!

HAC Members Save!

at Oblong Books and Music!

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More Ways to Support HAC

You don't have to become a member to support the Hannah Arendt Center.

Make a one-time donation here.

Or, support one of our affiliated projects by visiting the American Jewish Peace Archive or the Institute for the Revival of Democracy through Sortition. 

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