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  • Where Are We When We Think? Sections 20-21 | The Life of the Mind, Chapter 4
    2025/06/13

    In this episode, Roger Berkowitz leads a discussion on the concluding sections of the book on Thinking, part of Hannah Arendt's The Life of the Mind. Berkowitz elaborates on Arendt's insights into the nature of thinking and its relation to the real world. Berkowitz highlights Arendt's belief that thinking interrupts conventional processes and challenges us to be autonomous and independent. He emphasizes the dangers of abstract thought disconnected from reality and the value of encountering the world with a balanced, common-sense approach. Berkowitz discusses how the culmination of this section on Thinking leads into the next two parts of the book, on Willing and Judging.

    Leave us a review, if you like the podcast!

    ABOUT:

    Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt.

    New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

    THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER:

    The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual space for passionate, uncensored, and nonpartisan thinking that reframes and deepens the fundamental questions facing our nation and our world. Become a member and enjoy several benefits including access to our virtual reading group that takes place every Friday: https://hac.bard.edu/membership/

    More information can be found on our website: https://hac.bard.edu/ Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/hannaharendt/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hannaharendtcenteratbard/

    THE HOST:

    Roger Berkowitz is the Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. He is the editor of The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition, and co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch (2017). Berkowitz edits HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center and the weekly newsletter Amor Mundi. He is the winner of the 2019 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.

    EDITED BY:

    Alex Fox Tschan is the editor & co-producer of the “Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz” podcast. He is a working musician, creative producer, & audio/visual editor at his Brooklyn-based studio, The Fox & The Sound. With 25 years of recording & performance experience, Tschan’s recent projects range from indie-pop albums to audiobooks for McNally Jackson. A full spread of his work & collaborations can be found at pastelhell.com

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    49 分
  • What Makes Us Think? Sections 18-19 | The Life of the Mind, Chapter 3
    2025/06/06

    This episode centers on Hannah Arendt's exploration of Socrates as a model for thinking, outlined in Sections 18 and 19 of Chapter 3 in The Life of the Mind. Arendt argues that Socratic thinking, characterized by the internal dialogue of the 'two in one,' is crucial for understanding human thinking. Host Roger Berkowitz contrasts this with Greek and Roman perspectives on thinking, highlighting that for Socrates, thinking itself holds intrinsic meaning and is essential for being fully alive. We discuss the moral implications of thinking, emphasizing how it can prevent evil by fostering a critical self-dialogue that embodies an existential duality. The importance of conscience in the context of thinking is also discussed, distinguishing it from mere consciousness and illustrating how it can serve as a moral guide in times of crisis.

    Read along with us! And rate and review if you like this podcast, to help us expand our audience.

    ABOUT:

    Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt.

    New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

    THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER:

    The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual space for passionate, uncensored, and nonpartisan thinking that reframes and deepens the fundamental questions facing our nation and our world. Become a member and enjoy several benefits including access to our virtual reading group that takes place every Friday: https://hac.bard.edu/membership/

    More information can be found on our website: https://hac.bard.edu/ Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/hannaharendt/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hannaharendtcenteratbard/

    THE HOST:

    Roger Berkowitz is the Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. He is the editor of The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition, and co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch (2017). Berkowitz edits HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center and the weekly newsletter Amor Mundi. He is the winner of the 2019 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.

    EDITED BY:

    Alex Fox Tschan is the editor & co-producer of the “Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz” podcast. He is a working musician, creative producer, & audio/visual editor at his Brooklyn-based studio, The Fox & The Sound. With 25 years of recording & performance experience, Tschan’s recent projects range from indie-pop albums to audiobooks for McNally Jackson. A full spread of his work & collaborations can be found at pastelhell.com

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    1 時間 1 分
  • What Makes Us Think? Sections 16-17 | The Life of the Mind, Chapter 3
    2025/05/30
    In this episode, Roger Berkowitz continues with a close reading of Sections 16-17 of Hannah Arendt's unfinished book, The Life of the Mind. Berkowitz explores the key themes of the first part of the book, Thinking, focusing on Chapter 3, titled What Makes Us Think? He discusses the three driving questions of Arendt's work: whether thinking prevents us from doing evil, how thinking as an action interacts with the human condition, and whether thinking is a quest for meaning rather than a search for truth. The session delves into the history of thought from the Greeks, who thought out of wonder, to the Romans, who thought out of despair. Berkowitz ends by introducing Socratic thinking as a form of non-professional, participatory thought that challenges established concepts and opens up possibilities for new understandings.

    Read along with us! And rate and review if you like this podcast, to help us expand our audience.

    ABOUT:

    Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt.

    New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

    THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER:

    The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual space for passionate, uncensored, and nonpartisan thinking that reframes and deepens the fundamental questions facing our nation and our world. Become a member and enjoy several benefits including access to our virtual reading group that takes place every Friday: https://hac.bard.edu/membership/

    More information can be found on our website: https://hac.bard.edu/ Follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/arendt_center and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hannaharendtcenteratbard/

    THE HOST:

    Roger Berkowitz is the Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. He is the editor of The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition, and co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch (2017). Berkowitz edits HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center and the weekly newsletter Amor Mundi. He is the winner of the 2019 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.

    EDITED BY:

    Alex Fox Tschan is the editor & co-producer of the “Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz” podcast. He is a working musician, creative producer, & audio/visual editor at his Brooklyn-based studio, The Fox & The Sound. With 25 years of recording & performance experience, Tschan’s recent projects range from indie-pop albums to audiobooks for McNally Jackson. A full spread of his work & collaborations can be found at pastelhell.com

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    54 分
  • What Makes Us Think? Sections 14-15 | The Life of the Mind, Chapter 3
    2025/05/23

    We're on to Chapter III of The Life of the Mind: What Makes Us Think? In this episode, we examine Sections 14 and 15. Roger Berkowitz discusses key themes, such as the relationship between being and appearance, the authenticity and fallacy of the thinking ego, and thinking's quest for meaning. He delves into the importance of metaphors in language to link thought to the world, and outlines the distinctions and connections between post-philosophical and pre-philosophical Greek thought. The latter focuses on immortalization through poetry and action, while the former emphasizes intellectual abstraction. Modern existential dilemmas around thinking and meaning are touched upon, including insights from various philosophers like Plato, Socrates, Kant, and Nietzsche.

    Read along with us! And rate and review if you like this podcast, to help us expand our audience.

    ABOUT:

    Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt.

    New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

    THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER:

    The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual space for passionate, uncensored, and nonpartisan thinking that reframes and deepens the fundamental questions facing our nation and our world. Become a member and enjoy several benefits including access to our virtual reading group that takes place every Friday: https://hac.bard.edu/membership/

    More information can be found on our website: https://hac.bard.edu/ Follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/arendt_center and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hannaharendtcenteratbard/

    THE HOST:

    Roger Berkowitz is the Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. He is the editor of The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition, and co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch (2017). Berkowitz edits HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center and the weekly newsletter Amor Mundi. He is the winner of the 2019 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.

    EDITED BY:

    Alex Fox Tschan is the editor & co-producer of the “Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz” podcast. He is a working musician, creative producer, & audio/visual editor at his Brooklyn-based studio, The Fox & The Sound. With 25 years of recording & performance experience, Tschan’s recent projects range from indie-pop albums to audiobooks for McNally Jackson. A full spread of his work & collaborations can be found at pastelhell.com

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    58 分
  • Exploring the New Critical Edition of The Life of the Mind | Bonus Episode
    2025/05/16
    In this bonus episode of the podcast, we're sharing a discussion between host Roger Berkowitz and one of the General Editors of the Critical Edition of Hannah Arendt's Complete Works, Thomas Wild, and two of the co-editors of the new edition of The Life of the Mind, Thomas Bartscherer and Wout Cornelissen. The conversation explores the significance of the Critical Edition, the distinction between truth and meaning, and the dual origin of The Life of the Mind stemming from Arendt’s earlier works and her coverage of the Eichmann trial. The conversation also address the differences between the Mary McCarthy edition and the new edition, emphasizing the importance of reading Arendt’s original words to understand her thoughts on thinking, willing, and judging. Recorded in collaboration with Radio Kingston. ABOUT THE GUESTS: Thomas Wild is Research Director at the Hannah Arendt Center and Professor of German Studies and Literature at Bard College, and works on modern European and German literature and culture. In his research as well as in his teaching he’s particularly interested in the intersections between literature and history, politics, and philosophy. A current focus of his work addresses the poetics and ethics of multilingualism. Wild has published an introductory book on Hannah Arendt’s life, work, and reception and a monograph on Hannah Arendt’s intellectual relationships with post-war writers. His most recent book on the distinguished poet Ilse Aichinger discusses a contemporary poetics of hospitality. Several editions of letters emerged from Thomas Wild’s ongoing intrigue for correspondences and intellectual networks, including prominent writers such as Uwe Johnson, Wolfgang Hildesheimer, and Joachim Fest. Poetry is an interlocutor in most of his courses and in many of his publications, among the latter are a collection of poems by Thomas Brasch and translations of contemporary American poets. Thomas Wild serves as general editor on the distinguished international team preparing the first scholarly edition of Hannah Arendt’s Complete Works, which appears in print and digitally, presenting all published and unpublished writings of this eminent thinker in the original English and in the original German – a project providing the foundation for future research on Hannah Arendt, digital humanities, and what it means to think in a plurality of languages. Thomas Bartscherer works in the humanities and the arts and on the study of politics and liberal education. Recent publications include the critical edition of Hannah Arendt’s final work, The Life of the Mind, which he co-edited for the Complete Works series, and When the People Rule: Popular Sovereignty in Theory and Practice, co-edited for Cambridge University Press. His six-hour opera, Stranger Love, created with composer Dylan Mattingly, was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where it premiered in 2023. His work has also been performed at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Prototype Festival, and the First Take West Coast Opera Workshop. Bartscherer also writes on technology, new media, performance, and contemporary art, and has published translations from German and French. He is co-editor of Erotikon: Essays on Eros Ancient and Modern and Switching Codes: Thinking Through Digital Technology in the Humanities and the Arts, both from the University of Chicago Press. He has held research fellowships at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, the Universities of Heidelberg, and the University of Munich. He has held visiting positions as Associate Research Professor at Vanderbilt University and as Senior Fellow in residence at the Center for Advanced Film Studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin. He was Director of Bard’s Language and Thinking Program from 2010-2015. Bartscherer is a research associate on the Équipe Nietzsche at the Institut des Textes et Manuscrits Modernes and is a Senior Fellow that the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and the Humanities at Bard College. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. Wout Cornelissen is appointed as Assistant Professor (tenured) of Philosophy of Law at Radboud University, Nijmegen. Previously, he has held positions at FU Berlin, Vanderbilt University, Utrecht University, Bard College, and VU Amsterdam. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Leiden University. He is co-editor of the new, critical edition of Hannah Arendt’s The Life of the Mind, which has been published in 2024 as vol. 14 of the Complete Works (Wallstein Verlag). He has published essays on Arendt’s conceptions of thinking in the edited volumes Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Arendt’s Denktagebuch (Fordham UP, 2017) and The Bloomsbury Companion to Arendt (2020), and on her practice of quoting in The Phenomenology of Testimony (Brill, 2025). ABOUT THE PODCAST: Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College,...
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    43 分
  • Mental Activities in a World of Appearances, Section 13 | The Life of the Mind, Chapter 2
    2025/05/09

    In this episode, we continue exploring Hannah Arendt's The Life of the Mind, focusing on the nature, meaning, and purpose of thinking. Host Roger Berkowitz emphasizes Arendt's exploration of thinking as an end in itself, comparing it to the breath of life. He discusses the limitations of language and metaphors in capturing the ineffable nature of thought, the dangers of overly persuasive metaphors, and the distinction between truth and meaning. The conversation with Virtual Reading Group participants delves into historical and philosophical perspectives, including Aristotle, Hegel, and Heidegger, on circular thinking and the interplay between the visible and invisible realms.

    Read along with us! And rate and review if you like this podcast, to help us expand our audience.

    ABOUT:

    Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt.

    New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

    THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER:

    The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual space for passionate, uncensored, and nonpartisan thinking that reframes and deepens the fundamental questions facing our nation and our world. Become a member and enjoy several benefits including access to our virtual reading group that takes place every Friday: https://hac.bard.edu/membership/

    More information can be found on our website: https://hac.bard.edu/ Follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/arendt_center and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hannaharendtcenteratbard/

    THE HOST:

    Roger Berkowitz is the Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. He is the editor of The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition, and co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch (2017). Berkowitz edits HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center and the weekly newsletter Amor Mundi. He is the winner of the 2019 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.

    EDITED BY:

    Alex Fox Tschan is the editor & co-producer of the “Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz” podcast. He is a working musician, creative producer, & audio/visual editor at his Brooklyn-based studio, The Fox & The Sound. With 25 years of recording & performance experience, Tschan’s recent projects range from indie-pop albums to audiobooks for McNally Jackson. A full spread of his work & collaborations can be found at pastelhell.com

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    48 分
  • Mental Activities in a World of Appearances, Sections 11-12 | The Life of the Mind, Chapter 2
    2025/05/02

    In this episode, we discuss Sections 11-12 of Chapter 2 of The Life of the Mind, Hannah Arendt's final work. Host Roger Berkowitz emphasizes the notion that thinking involves a radical withdrawal from the world of appearances, and examines metaphors as fundamental to philosophical language. Berkowitz touches on how philosophical thinking, unlike everyday thinking, operates through abstract ideas that are deeply relevant to understanding human actions and societal structures. Questions from Virtual Reading Group participants place the relevance of these ideas in contemporary contexts.

    Read along with us! And rate and review if you like this podcast, to help us expand our audience.

    ABOUT:

    Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt.

    New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

    THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER:

    The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual space for passionate, uncensored, and nonpartisan thinking that reframes and deepens the fundamental questions facing our nation and our world. Become a member and enjoy several benefits including access to our virtual reading group that takes place every Friday: https://hac.bard.edu/membership/

    More information can be found on our website: https://hac.bard.edu/ Follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/arendt_center and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hannaharendtcenteratbard/

    THE HOST:

    Roger Berkowitz is the Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. He is the editor of The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition, and co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch (2017). Berkowitz edits HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center and the weekly newsletter Amor Mundi. He is the winner of the 2019 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.

    EDITED BY:

    Alex Fox Tschan is the editor & co-producer of the “Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz” podcast. He is a working musician, creative producer, & audio/visual editor at his Brooklyn-based studio, The Fox & The Sound. With 25 years of recording & performance experience, Tschan’s recent projects range from indie-pop albums to audiobooks for McNally Jackson. A full spread of his work & collaborations can be found at pastelhell.com

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    53 分
  • Mental Activities in a World of Appearances, Sections 9-10 | The Life of the Mind, Chapter 2
    2025/04/25

    In this episode, we focus on the second chapter of Hannah Arendt's The Life of the Mind. The discussion is a critical exploration of Arendt's examination of thinking as an integral, yet radically autonomous, aspect of human life that is separated from the world of reality and appearances. Host Roger Berkowitz highlights Arendt's premise that thinking can be dangerous due to its detachment from reality and its capacity to engage in abstract thought. We also touch on the distinction between thinking and other mental activities like willing and judging, as well as the controversial idea that thinking is deeply tied to language. Berkowitz emphasizes Arendt's concern about the potential of thoughtlessness to contribute to evil acts, using historical and contemporary examples to illustrate these ideas.

    Read along with us! And rate and review if you like this podcast, to help us expand our audience.

    ABOUT:

    Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt.

    New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

    THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER:

    The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual space for passionate, uncensored, and nonpartisan thinking that reframes and deepens the fundamental questions facing our nation and our world. Become a member and enjoy several benefits including access to our virtual reading group that takes place every Friday: https://hac.bard.edu/membership/

    More information can be found on our website: https://hac.bard.edu/ Follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/arendt_center and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hannaharendtcenteratbard/

    THE HOST:

    Roger Berkowitz is the Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. He is the editor of The Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology, and the Human Condition, and co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch (2017). Berkowitz edits HA: The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center and the weekly newsletter Amor Mundi. He is the winner of the 2019 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought given by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany.

    EDITED BY:

    Alex Fox Tschan is the editor & co-producer of the “Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz” podcast. He is a working musician, creative producer, & audio/visual editor at his Brooklyn-based studio, The Fox & The Sound. With 25 years of recording & performance experience, Tschan’s recent projects range from indie-pop albums to audiobooks for McNally Jackson. A full spread of his work & collaborations can be found at pastelhell.com

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    52 分