Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers: the time of friendship. (2nd April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nixon, Jon
• Is Part Of: Journal of educational administration and history. Volume 48:Number 2(2016)
• Page Start: 160
• Page End: 172
• Publication Date: 2016-04-02
• Subjects: Arendt -- collegiality -- friendship -- higher education -- Jaspers -- narrative -- public intellectuals -- time -- university -- workplace; School management and organization -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Administration scolaire -- Grande-Bretagne -- Périodiques; 371.2
• DOI: 10.1080/00220620.2016.1144577
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0620

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper provides an introduction to the enduring friendship between Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers. It shows how their intellectual development as public educators was sustained by their ongoing dialogue which flourished not in spite of but because of their huge differences of circumstance and personality. This friendship between two renowned scholars raises – by implication at least – the question as to what part friendship plays in academic and intellectual development and to what extent institutions, in their administrative systems and practices, encourage or even allow for the kind of friendship that Arendt and Jaspers shared. The paper does not seek to address these questions directly, but rather to ground them in the particularities of a unique correspondence between two major public intellectuals and to highlight their relevance for those currently working in the higher education sector.