Hannah Arendt: Space Conquest and the End of Humanitas — Charles McNamara

The Morningside Institute

Much has been written recently about Arendt's political observation that totalitarian masses would "believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true," but her views on space exploration and astronomy have attracted less attention, even if she ranks "the invention of the telescope" alongside the Protestant Reformation among the decisive events of the modern era. As entrepreneurs and nations alike race toward the Moon, Mars, and beyond, what moral and political questions surrounding space exploration might emerge? How does Arendt's unease with our "conquest of space" invite us to reconsider the achievements of Galileo, Descartes, and other early scientific thinkers?

This is a Living the Core seminar with Charles McNamara, who received his PhD in Classics from Columbia in 2016 and his AB from Harvard in 2007. He is an instructor of Contemporary Civilization at Columbia, and received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2016.

This seminar took place at the Morningside Institute on April 8, 2021. The Morningside Institute brings scholars and students together to examine human life beyond the classroom and consider its deepest questions through the life of New York City. For more information about upcoming events, please visit https://www.morningsideinstitute.org.