Hannah Arendt, "On Violence"

"Violence can destroy power; it is utterly incapable of creating it."


"On Violence" looks at a phenomena that has been admittedly recurring throughout human history. During the 20th century, as science and technology have ceaselessly progressed and proliferated to the point that we have created the ability to destroy everything in our natural world, we no longer have a rational basis of extolling violence as a virtue whose ends justify means. Hannah Arendt, in order to provide clarity, defines concepts, such as violence, power, authority, force, and strength, terms which often get used synonymously. Through these definitions, an elucidating connection is made between power and violence, two terms that often get used together even though power, as Ardent argues, is the opposite of violence. Violence is an implement, a means to achieve an end. On the other hand, power, which is an end in itself, requires a concert of people for support in order that its structure is maintained. Violence is implemented when power is threatened, whether it is by the state or by the governed, but it cannot create power. Instead, violence often creates an environment of more violence. Based on her exposition, Arendt argues against violence as biological necessity of human action. Instead, she argues that violence is based on conscious human decisions, and it is our faculty of action that makes us political beings, which may explain why violence as an implement is glorified by so many. As the future unfolds, and grips of power slip, violence will continue to present itself as a tempting course of action in its stead.

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Citation Information:
Arendt, H. (1970). On violence. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.