archive / stories / Hannah Arendt on authority: parents must act with authority even without justification
Hannah Arendt on authority: parents must act with authority even without justification
anecdote · Hannah Arendt ·
retold in 4 talks
Arendt argued that even if parental authority has been eroded by social processes, parents still must act with authority; confessing impotence fails the child. Žižek extends this to politics.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 4
“heroically even if this is true you must act with authority even if your authority is not justified this is not fascism this is the only way to be a good parent”
“the greatest lie here is to tell your children listen my authority is not grounded I cannot be of any help to you just I am delivering you to your freedom”
“it is as though parents daily say, in this world even we are not very securely at home... we are innocent. we wash our hands. of you.”
What it carries
one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)
contents · one story, 3 jobsuses
public discipline
×1
authentic leader
×1
heroic assumption of authority
×1
Its cast and sources
populated by
Frederick II of Prussia2Jacinda Ardern1Miloš Zeman1Catherine Angel1Luce Irigaray1Kwasi Kwarteng1Valentim1Liliana Cavani1
alongside works
Every retelling 4
Arendt argued that even if parental authority has been eroded by social processes, parents still must act with authority; confessing impotence fails the child. Žižek extends this to politics., illustrating authority,public discipline,authentic leader
Arendt argues it is a lie to tell your children 'my authority is not grounded, I am just delivering you to your freedom'; a parent cannot escape exercising authority, and must do so more heroically without pretending it is legitimated., illustrating authority,ideology
Žižek quotes Arendt's text on education, where parents wash their hands of responsibility, saying 'we are innocent,' because they are also lost in the world, illustrating the failure of modern authority., illustrating ideology,everyday-life
Arendt argues that even parents who are genuinely confused about the world must heroically assume authority for their children rather than confessing their confusion, the ground of authority is assumed, not derived., illustrating the paradox of authority,we must act as if we have authority