Hannah Arendt on Publicness
XAT 2022 · VALR · Hard · Reading Comprehension
Passage / data set
What Arendt does for us is to remind us that our "publicness" is as important to our flourishing as our sociability and our privacy. She draws a distinction between what it means to act "socially" and what is means to act "politically." The social realm for Arendt is both the context where all our basic survival needs "are permitted to appear in public" and also the realm of "behaviour." One of the things she fears about modern societies is that society - focused on how we behave and what we will permit for ourselves and others - becomes the realm of conformism. This is worrying not just because we don't really get vibrant societies out of conformism and sameness, but also, Arendt says because there is a risk that we think this is all there is to our living together. We lose ourselves in the tasks of managing behaviour and forget that our true public task is to act, and to distinguish ourselves in doing so. The risk, says Arendt, is therefore that we confuse behaviour with action , that in modern liberal societies "behaviour replaces action as the foremost mode of human relationship." This confusion can happen in any area of our modern lives and institutions, secular or faith-based. None is immune.
Arendt wants to drive home the point that the healthy public life requires that we do not just see ourselves as social actors but also as fully public persons, committed to judging and acting as members of a common world we want to inhabit and pass on. Arendt tells us that public action is action in which we stand out, are individuated, become in some way excellent in a manner that is of service to others and a greater good. This is the space where we take risks, subject our common life to scrutiny, seek justice (that sometimes requires us to transgress what seem like accepted laws) in order to be increasingly open to the claims and needs of other humans - ones who are not our household and our kin.
Question 1 of 3
According to the passage, who can be BEST categorised as a "public person"?
- A.
An NGO employee who was tasked to lead a campaign against tribal land acquisition.
- B.
A wildlife photographer who highlighted the plight of poverty-stricken migrants by posting their pictures.
- C.
An online fraud victim who ran a campaign against online fraudsters.
- D.
A parent who organized protests against the random fee hike by a local school.
- E.
A local politician who filed RTI applications to unearth financial scams by a village panchayat.
Question 2 of 3
Based on the passage, which of the following options BEST describes "public action"?
- A.
Acting based on our core beliefs while being mindful of what society thinks
- B.
Acting for a just cause regardless of what society thinks about it
- C.
Acting in a way that is perceived to be anti-social
- D.
Acting based on our conviction regardless of what society thinks
- E.
Acting in a way that is seen as acceptable to the society
Question 3 of 3
Which of the following is the BEST reason for focusing on behaviour instead of acting in public?
- A.
We are dependent on each other, leading to focus on what is accepted by others
- B.
Our fear of being called out on our imperfect thoughts leads us to behave
- C.
Our focus is to survive and not to flourish
- D.
To survive is not to distinguish ourselves from others
- E.
The foundation of any vibrant society is based on cooperation and not confrontation
Practise this under exam conditions
Sign in to solve it with a live timer, the on-screen CAT calculator, and streak and accuracy tracking across every question you attempt.
Solve in the workspace