"Love of the World" as Political Foundation: Hannah Arendt’s Revolutionary Ethos in On Revolution

Abstract

This paper excavates the ontological significance of "love of the world" (amor mundi) in Hannah Arendt’s political theory through an exegesis of On Revolution. Contra interpretive tendencies that reduce Arendt’s revolution schema to institutional design or ideological praxis, I argue her conceptualization positions love as the a priori condition for authentic political regeneration. By dialectically examining the revolution-freedom dynamic—particularly through the lens of counter-revolution as restorative praxis—the analysis demonstrates how Arendt’s non-teleological framework transcends Marxist historicity and liberal proceduralism. Crucially, the distinction between political revolution (freedom-constituting) and social revolution (necessity-driven) reveals violence not as revolutionary essence but as its antithesis, corroding the public realm where love manifests as intersubjective action. The American and French revolutionary contrasts further epitomize Arendt’s normative claim: only when revolution anchors itself in worldly love, resisting the seduction of compassion or historical determinism, can it birth durable freedom. Ultimately, this reading positions Arendt not merely as a theorist of totalitarianism but as an architect of political love, offering a radical alternative to contemporary crisis of civic disengagement.