Arendt, Rousseau, and Human Plurality in Politics

Hannah Arendt's political thought seems at first sight strikingly similar to Rousseau's. Closer consideration shows, however, that the two offered fundamentally different solutions to the problem of human plurality in politics. Whereas Rousseau tried to unite citizens in a single General Will, Arendt stressed the importance of a common public world within which plural citizens can be contained. If Arendt's approach is accepted, an important implication is that the proper role of political philosophy is much more limited than often is believed.