The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

The technique of “slow reading” of the first pages of Hannah Arendt’s dissertation on St. Augustine shows that the main task of this work is a polemic against psychologism and early existentialism. Externally showing loyalty to her teacher Karl Jaspers, Arendt argues contra a number of his existentialist presumptions to prove that existentialism is merely a particular way of conceptualizing time. Relying on the concept of “acquisition”, Arendt interprets time as a field of the projections of the good; not as an area of experiences and solutions, but as a field of conceptualization of hope and salvation. Thus, under the guise of an existential treatise, Arendt creates a reserve for her future political philosophy as the philosophy of meaningful ethical choice.