Lo spettro del dominio totalitario e l’eclissi della libertà. In dialogo con Karl Jaspers e Hannah Arendt

Jaspers’ analysis on totalitarianism is the outcome of a long process of ethical and political reflection: having posed the problem and the need for an articulated investigation in Die geistige Situation der Zeit (1931), it branches out in Die Schuldfrage (1946), with some remarks in Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte (1949). Then, it reaches its most articulated formulation in Die Atombombe und die Zukunft des Menschen (1958). The German philosopher’s investigation proposes in a new conceptual light some of the main themes of his existential reflection, such as the problem of the authentic existence, the relationship between science and technology, the connection between mass and the alienation of individuals, the ethical and political de-accountability of the subject. This itinerary of research allows to cross Arendt’s philosophical path, within a constant dialogue which finds in totalitarianism an interesting space for comparison. By highlighting the affinities and divergences of Arendt’s and Jaspers’ analysis, it will be possible to outline a common theoretical constellation, gravitating around the concept of totalitarianism understood as ‘anti-politics’ (Arendt) or ‘absolutized politics’ (Jaspers) whose claim to total domination over man turns into a total destruction of his freedom. This paper intends to explore the historical limit and to underline the spiritual inheritance of these two philosophical proposals: the new ethos of politics which is still fundamental today in order to question the present and the new specters of totalitarianism, always possible in the degenerative drifts of current democracies.