Resentment and revenge: conservation and breakdown of the political space in Arendt

Abstract

The public space is the stage for the most varied conflicts, resulting, in certain cases, in violence. However, it is in this space that men experience freedom, expressing themselves in front of plurality of opinions. As it is a space for free expression, our actions and opinions are not always received without contradiction, arousing resentful feelings. Following Arendt's thinking, the public space is the arena in which everyone should manifest themselves spontaneously, showing themselves from their uniqueness before the plurality that characterizes the community. As it is a space for the expression of the individual, guided by freedom and plurality, the individual’s action is irreversible and unpredictable, enabling a cycle of misunderstandings and violence. Consequently, there is no way to prevent conflicting emotions from being fed by the damage originated from political action. According to Arendt, resentments are emotional states peculiar to human beings, facilitating common understanding and coexistence. Thus, resentment can lead to acts against injustice, with punishment and forgiveness, enabling a new beginning. However, there are acts that are not in keeping with forgiveness, such as the crimes perpetrated by Nazism, whose relationship established among men was not human. In the face of the absurdity of the situation, on which there is no way to judge, forgiveness has no place, closing the doors to a new beginning. Anyway, this text intends to explore the role of resentment as a factor that enables the survival of public space, but that can also lead to its destruction.