Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:26:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodrigo M de Almeida.pdf: 841160 bytes, checksum: 9f31621702da722b9484c849b5c9a829 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation approaches what is called the problem of the constitution of freedom in Hannah Arendt s political thought. Such problem presents itself in the form of a tension between the concern to think upon, on one hand, the action, power, and political freedom that are coeval, as spontaneous, indeterminate, innovative and possessing an extraordinary dimension; and, on the other hand, the necessary stability and delimitation of a political body based on normative elements, such as laws, institutions, constitutions, and an instance of authority and legitimacy that ensure some continuity to the public sector on the potential arbitrariness and limitlessness that freedom brings with it. This problem is articulated through the definition and specification, in the work of Arendt, of the relationship, apparently paradoxical, between the concepts of power, action and freedom, on the one hand, and on the other, the notions of law, constitution and authority. The issues raised are: 1. How does Arendt reconcile and balance the unpredictability, spontaneous and uncertain character of her concept of action with stabilizing and limiting aspects of the notions of law and constitution? 2. What elements of her theory help to think of normative principles of authority and legitimacy in the secular context? 3. And finally, how is it possible to think on lines of continuity between the constituent/founder dimension of power, which is essentially indeterminate and extraordinary, and constituted power? The hypotheses proposed are: 1 Arendt seeks a republican conception of law, strongly inspired by the Roman lex, which further emphasizes the directive-relational dimensions of the law than the mandatory and coercive idea. The author highlights the importance that the law and institutions are the result of the political and plural action of people, and that they are also linked to it, and that they are not imposed by a superior and autonomous legal rationality. She seeks, therefore, to overcome the traditional dichotomy between law and freedom by indicating a complementarity and interdependence between the constituent and constituted spheres. 2 The author constitutes elements to think on a new concept of authority, without resorting to transcendent and absolute elements as a normative source of legitimacy for secular republics, on one hand, in her theory of promises based on commitments and mutual guarantees that people establish with each other, and, on the other hand, on the complementary notion of immanent principles of action to the constituting act shared by a people, such as freedom, equality, and plurality, which could be incorporated into the constitutional document because they have a normative value sanctioned by people themselves. 3 - Finally, it is noted that Arendt seeks a republican notion of constitution, largely inspired by the American constitutionalism and by the federated republic model, the form of government that most fit to welcome and constitute public liberty. / A presente dissertação aborda o que denominamos o problema da constituição da liberdade no pensamento político de Hannah Arendt. Tal problema apresenta-se sob a forma de uma tensão entre a preocupação de se pensar, por um lado, a ação  e o poder e a liberdade política que lhe são coevas  como espontânea, indeterminada, inovadora e possuidora de uma dimensão extraordinária, e, por outro, a necessária estabilidade e delimitação de um corpo político baseado em elementos normativos, como leis, instituições, constituições e uma instância de autoridade e legitimidade que garantam alguma continuidade ao âmbito público diante da potencial arbitrariedade e ilimitabilidade que a liberdade traz em si. Articulamos tal problemática a partir da delimitação e especificação, na obra de Arendt, da relação, aparentemente paradoxal, entre os conceitos de poder, ação e liberdade, de um lado, e, de outro, as noções de lei, constituição e autoridade. As questões levantadas são: 1. Como Arendt concilia e equilibra o caráter imprevisível, espontâneo e indeterminado do seu conceito de ação com os aspectos estabilizadores e limitadores das noções de lei e constituição? 2. Que elementos de sua teoria contribuem para pensarmos princípios normativos de autoridade e legitimidade no contexto secular? 3. E, finalmente, como pensar linhas de continuidade entre a dimensão constituinte/fundadora do poder, que é, por essência, extraordinária e indeterminada, e o poder constituído? As hipóteses defendidas são: 1 Arendt busca um conceito republicano de lei, fortemente inspirado na lex romana, que enfatiza mais as dimensões relacional-diretiva da lei do que a ideia imperativa e coerciva. A autora destaca a importância de a lei, e as instituições, ser fruto da ação política plural do povo e continuar vinculada a essa ação plural, e não ser imposta por uma racionalidade jurídica superior e autônoma. Ela busca, assim, superar a tradicional dicotomia entre lei e liberdade, indicando uma complementariedade e uma interdependência entre as esferas constituinte e constituída. 2 A autora vislumbra elementos para pensar um novo conceito de autoridade, sem recorrer a elementos transcendentes e absolutos, como fonte normativa de legitimidade para as repúblicas seculares, por um lado, em sua teoria das promessas, baseada nos compromissos e garantias mútuas que o povo estabelece entre si e, por outro lado, na noção complementar de princípios de ação imanentes ao ato constituinte, compartilhados por um povo, como a liberdade, a igualdade e a pluralidade, que poderiam ser incorporados do documento constitucional por possuir um valor normativo sancionado pelo próprio povo. 3 - Por último, indicamos que Arendt busca numa noção republicana de constituição, amplamente inspirada no constitucionalismo americano e na forma da república federada, a forma de governo mais apta a acolher e a constituir a liberdade pública.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:26:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberto Lopes de Souza.pdf: 1002393 bytes, checksum: 46802edb2f036cdf98f87290d7703781 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research analyzes the way Hannah Arendt thinks the politics in the secularized world. We start from her criticism about the tradition of the Western Political Philosophy, characterized by the submission of the politics to the immutable truths, contemplated by philosophers. This concept was initiated by Plato and continued through the alliance between Church and Empire, extending to the beginning of the Modern Age. Philosophers like Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx and Nietzsche, wanted to break with this tradition, but they could not do that on a satisfactory way. According to Arendt, the exchange of traditional patterns by others happened in the twentieth century, specifically in the deployment of totalitarian regimes, like the Nazism and the Bolshevism. Thus, the issue is to determine if it is possible to overcome the tendency to totalitarianism in the politics without resorting to transcendent categories offered by philosophy and religion. Our position is that Arendt defends the secularization, but does not consider enough the break with the transcendent reference. There are other positions that need to be observed for the policy happens, especially the exchange of views, based on the respect for human plurality. Besides the independence between politics and religion, we believe that her political theory propose a new relationship between politics and philosophy. After considering the overcoming of the metaphysics in politics, and the consequent hierarchy elimination between contemplation and action, we analyze the way the author presents the relationship between the speech and appearance. We realize that the political action requires a defined space, in which citizens can make pacts with each other. The durability of a common world depends on overcoming the subjectivism, characteristic of the modern times liberalism, in which predominates the private freedom. Similarly as in the revolutions of the eighteenth century, the difficulty of the politics in the modern world is to balance stability and novelty. Arendt offers the promise to ensure continuity, and the forgiveness to break the causal chain of the events and provide a new start. In politics, the novelty is possible when the action is linked to thought, but not the speculative thought, which aims to make universalization. That s why, for Arendt the policy does not require a rational system of predefined truths, but this does not mean that she is opposed to any kind of encounter between philosophy and politics, but the traditional model. She accepts the proposal of Socrates, in which the activity of thinking is more important than the result of thought. There she meets a limit to evil and allows us to start thinking about the relationship between ethic and politics. However, the Socratic principle is also limited, revealing what not to do, but not helping to establish a new action. Then, Arendt analyzes the Kantian philosophy, and despite rejecting the requirement of the will concept, she accepts the notion of judgment faculty, considering that this is the faculty that allows us to make policy. / Esta pesquisa analisa o modo como Hannah Arendt pensa a política no mundo secularizado. Partimos de sua crítica à tradição da Filosofia Política Ocidental, caracterizada pela submissão da política às verdades imutáveis, contempladas pelos filósofos. Esta concepção foi iniciada por Platão e continuada através da aliança entre Igreja e Império, estendendo-se até o início da Idade Moderna. Filósofos como Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx e Nietzsche, quiseram romper com esta tradição, mas não conseguiram isto de modo satisfatório. Segundo Arendt, a troca dos padrões tradicionais por outros aconteceu no século XX, especificamente na implantação dos regimes totalitários, como o Nazismo e o Bolchevismo. Diante disso, o problema é determinar se é possível superar a tendência ao totalitarismo na política sem recorrer às categorias transcendentes oferecidas pela filosofia e pela religião. Nossa posição é que Arendt defende a secularização, mas não considera suficiente o rompimento com os referenciais transcendentes. Há outras condições que precisam ser observadas para que a política aconteça, especialmente a troca de opiniões, baseada no respeito à pluralidade humana. Além da independência entre política e religião, consideramos que sua teoria política propõe uma nova relação entre política e filosofia. Depois de considerar a superação da metafísica na política, e a consequente eliminação da hierarquia entre contemplação e ação, analisamos o modo como a autora trabalha a relação entre o discurso e a aparência. Percebemos que a ação política necessita de um espaço público definido, no qual os cidadãos possam fazer pactos entre si. A durabilidade de um mundo comum depende da superação do subjetivismo, característico do liberalismo da era moderna, no qual predomina a liberdade privada. Assim como nas revoluções do século XVIII, a dificuldade da política no mundo moderno é equilibrar a estabilidade e a novidade. Arendt propõe a promessa para garantir a continuidade, e o perdão, para romper a cadeia causal dos acontecimentos e proporcionar um novo começo. Na política, a novidade é possível quando a ação está vinculada ao pensamento, mas não um pensamento especulativo, que visa fazer universalizações. É por isto que, para Arendt a política não necessita de um sistema racional de verdades predefinidas, o que não significa que ela se oponha a todo tipo de encontro entre filosofia e política, mas ao modelo tradicional. Ela aceita a proposta de Sócrates, na qual a atividade de pensar é mais importante que o resultado do pensamento. Aí ela encontra um limite para o mal e nos permite iniciar uma reflexão sobre a relação entre ética e política. Contudo, o princípio socrático também é limitado, revelando o que não fazer, mas não ajudando a determinar uma nova ação. Então, Arendt analisa a filosofia kantiana e, apesar de rejeitar o seu conceito de obrigatoriedade da vontade, aceita a noção de faculdade do juízo, considerando que esta é a faculdade que nos permite fazer política.

Dans cette thèse de doctorat, je m’attache à interpréter, à systématiser et à soumettre à un examen critique la pensée politique du droit de Hannah Arendt. En effet, alors que le versant politique de cette œuvre a fait l’objet d’une attention tout à fait considérable, on n’a toujours pas pris la mesure de l’intérêt évident de la philosophe pour le droit et les institutions juridiques et judiciaires les plus essentielles. Or, selon la thèse que je défends, l’une des raisons qui expliquent l’originalité de cette pensée et son caractère stimulant est à chercher du côté du positionnement qu’elle adopte vis-à-vis de la question du droit.<p><p>Pour atteindre ces différents objectifs, ma thèse est structurée en deux grandes parties qui correspondent à deux points de vue que l’on peut adopter par rapport au droit et qui se révèlent tout à fait opératoires si l’on accède à une vision panoramique des écrits dispersés qu’Arendt a consacrés au droit. Je distingue ainsi, et ne cesse de faire dialoguer dans ma thèse, le « pôle objectif » (première partie) et le « pôle subjectif » (seconde partie) de la philosophie du droit de Hannah Arendt.<p>1/ Dans la première partie de mon étude, je montre comment la philosophe s’attache, dans ses livres les plus célèbres, à construire des modèles politiques qui ont tous pour particularité d’être aussi – et de manière indissociable – des modèles juridiques. a) Mon premier chapitre est dédié à l’intérêt manifesté par Hannah Arendt pour les sources de l’Antiquité, et vise en particulier à clarifier le rapport qu’elle entretient vis-à-vis des sources romaines. b) Dans mon deuxième chapitre, je propose une interprétation de sa réflexion consacrée aux deux grandes révolutions modernes de la fin du XVIIIe siècle, les Révolutions française et américaine. Je mets en lumière de quelle façon Arendt, en s’inspirant du précédent américain, élabore un modèle républicain et peut ainsi approfondir sa conception de l’articulation entre droit et politique. c) Dans mon troisième chapitre, je précise les contours d’un contre-modèle élaboré par Arendt dans ses premiers écrits politiques d’envergure, ceux qu’elle a consacrés au totalitarisme.<p>2/ Dans la seconde partie de mon étude, je me concentre sur le « pôle subjectif » de la philosophie de mon auteur :j’indique comment Arendt mobilise des situations existentielles limites pour penser la condition de l’homme contemporain. a) Dans mon quatrième chapitre, je montre que c’est à partir de la situation des réfugiés et des apatrides de l’entre-deux-guerres que Hannah Arendt nous invite à repenser non seulement les droits de l’homme, mais aussi leur titulaire, que j’appelle l’« homme des droits de l’homme ». b) Dans mon cinquième chapitre, je m’attache à mettre en évidence, dans toutes ses nuances, la figure du « juge » que Hannah Arendt s’attache à reconstituer après avoir assisté au procès d’Adolf Eichmann, après avoir ressenti ce que je nomme le « choc » du procès Eichmann. c) Dans mon sixième et dernier chapitre, enfin, je m’interroge sur les raisons profondes qui incitent Arendt à voir dans les grandes campagnes de désobéissance civile qui éclatent aux États-Unis durant les années 1950 et 1960, non le signe d’un déclin des institutions, mais, au contraire, la marque d’une renaissance de l’action citoyenne.<p><p>Je conclus en synthétisant l’apport de Hannah Arendt à notre pensée juridique. Dans cette œuvre, le droit n’apparaît jamais comme une simple contrainte extérieure pour la politique, ni comme son « supplément d’âme », mais comme sa condition d’existence :en conférant à la liberté politique ses limites, limites spatiales mais aussi relationnelles et temporelles, en lui offrant un cadre stable au sein duquel elle peut s’épanouir, le droit n’ampute pas la politique d’une part d’elle-même mais, au contraire, participe de sa constitution. Me fondant sur trois catégories centrales de la réflexion juridique (législation, constitution, juridiction), je souligne en outre tout l’intérêt d’une confrontation approfondie et détaillée entre l’œuvre arendtienne et les questions classiques et contemporaines qui animent le champ de la théorie et de la philosophie du droit, ce qui me permet d’ouvrir un certain nombre de perspectives de recherches futures.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences juridiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

La presente investigación propone explorar el componente político y los diversos discursos provenientes de los actores del Estado y víctimas en el caso de las ejecuciones extrajudiciales de Accomarca bajo las categorías del mal en Hannah Arendt. Es así que para dicho análisis se ha recogido la información de la audiencia pública de Accomarca la cual califica como la esfera pública por excelencia, en la cual se narran los hechos y el contexto, asimismo, una exhaustiva revisión de textos de corte filosófico y político. Es entonces que se trata de tipificar el uso del mal para diversos fenómenos, como lo es la <<banalidad del mal>>, acontecimientos e incluso políticas <<mal radical>>, las cuales en muchas ocasiones se convierten en técnicas premeditadas para el abuso del propio mal en contexto de emergencia y de esa forma poder deslindar lo “bueno” de lo “malo”. Si bien el caso Accomarca lleva de por sí mucha dificultad al momento de intentar explicar el por qué, en esta investigación se intenta dar una respuesta a partir del motor de los perpetradores desde una perspectiva político-filosófica arendtiana, con luces de pluralidad e in-acción.

Esta investigación comenzó como el intento de profundizar en las tesis de licenciatura de algunos estudiantes de la Facultad de Ciencias y Artes de la Comunicación en la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). Esos trabajos de tesis presentaban y analizaban experiencias creativas y artísticas en poblaciones excluidas, al interior de las cuales se generaron espacios novedosos de reconocimiento entre sus participantes, a menudo con el apoyo de los jóvenes autores de esas investigaciones. Los procesos, las historias y las personas que se dejaban mostrar en sus páginas han informado en los últimos años mis preguntas como profesor, estudiante de doctorado y profesional interesado en temas de desarrollo, ciudadanía e interculturalidad. Me han confirmado también que la investigación académica puede seguir aportando a una comprensión más profunda de estos espacios de nuestra realidad actual y contribuir a su fortalecimiento.

Thesis (DPhil (Philosophy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The purpose of this thesis twofold: first, to develop an account of modernity as a “loss of the world” which also entails the “death” of the human as a meaningful philosophical, political or moral category, and second, to explore the possibility of recovering a sense of the world in us and with it, a sense of what it means to be human. This argument is developed by way of a sustained engagement with the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt, whose analogous critiques of modernity centre on the problem of the connection between humanity and worldliness. My argument consists of three parts, each of which spans two chapters. Part one of the thesis sets out the most important aspects of Nietzsche’s and Arendt’s respective critiques of modernity. Chapter one focuses on modernity as a rupture of a philosophical, political and religious tradition within which existence in the world could be experienced as unquestionably meaningful. Following arguments developed by Nietzsche and Arendt, chapter two establishes that the loss of this tradition results in a general crisis of meaning, evaluation and authority that can be designated as “modern nihilism”. The second part of the thesis deals with what may be called the “anthropological grounds” of the critique of modernity developed in part one. To this end, chapter three focuses on Nietzsche’s portrayal of the human as “the as-yet undetermined animal” who is neither the manifestation of a subjective essence nor the product of his own hands, but who only exists in the unresolved tension between indeterminacy and determination. This is followed in chapter four by an inquiry into Arendt’s conception of “the human condition”, which in turn points to the conditionality of being human. What is clearly demonstrated in both cases is that, in so far as the predicament of modernity is incarnate in modern human beings themselves, any attempt at overcoming this predicament would somehow have to involve re-thinking or transcending our present-day humanity. The third part of the thesis examines the way in which the reconceptualisation of the human as advocated by Nietzsche and Arendt transforms our understanding of “world”. The more specific aim here is to demonstrate that both thinkers conceive of a reconciliation between self and world as a form of redemption. In chapter five I explore their respective attempts to resurrect the capacity for judgement in the aftermath of the death of God as the first step in this redemptive project, before turning to a more in-depth inquiry into the “soteriology” at work in Nietzsche’s and Arendt’s thinking in chapter six. This inquiry ultimately makes clear that there is a conflict between the Nietzschean conception of redemption as amor fati (love of fate) and Arendt’s notion of redemption as amor mundi (love of the world). I conclude the thesis by arguing that what is at stake here are two conflicting notions of reconciliation: a worldly – or political – notion of reconciliation (Arendt), and a much more radical, philosophical notion of reconciliation (Nietzsche), which ultimately does away with any boundary between self and world. However, my final conclusion is not that we face an inevitable choice between these two alternatives, but rather that the struggle between these two dispositions is necessary for an understanding of what it means to be human as well as for the world in which our humanity is formed.

The thesis inquires into the theme of political judgement and aims to rethink it from the perspective of twentieth-century philosophies of existence. It seeks to take up the contemporary challenge of political judgement that remains inadequately addressed within recent theorizing: how, given the modern breakdown of metaphysical absolutes, to reinvigorate the human capacity for political judgement as a practical activity able to confront the ambiguous, plural and complex character of our postfoundational world. Against this background, the thesis aspires to reclaim the distinctly historical orientation of twentieth-century existentialism, in particular the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus and Hannah Arendt. It draws on their aesthetic sensibility to resuscitate the human judging ability in its worldly ambiguity and point towards an account of political judgement capable of facing up to the challenges of our plural and uncertain political reality. Retrieving their vigilant assumption of the situated, worldly condition of human political existence and the attendant perplexity of judging politically, the aim of the thesis is to suggest how the existentialists' insights can be brought to bear on contemporary problematics of political judgement that seem to elude the grasp of abstract standards and predetermined yardsticks.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:28:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luis Aurelio Sposito Lima.pdf: 1157908 bytes, checksum: ff037a1601342b5a06004c85f7eb2b6b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-30 / The present work will study two possible perspectives regarding the Kantian view. We will analyze the possible approximation of the humanist Kantian view and the relativist individualism present in this society. Then we will analyze the appropriation made by Hannah Arendt of the Kantian aesthetic judgment, considering such judgment from the point of view of the whole mankind. We shall study the Introduction and the first half of Immanuel Kant s Critique of Judgment . Then, we will analyze the appropriation by Hannah Arendt of said judgment by studying her Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy ; in this book, Arendt uses the reflective judgment to lay the basis for a judgment in which the corner stone is the observation of a particular event from the point of view of the whole of humanity. Such judgment is only possible when employed the broaden thought / O presente trabalho estudará duas possíveis perspectivas do sujeito kantiano. Analisaremos a possível aproximação entre o sujeito kantiano humanista e o individualismo relativista presente em nossa sociedade. Depois analisaremos a apropriação realizada por Hannah Arendt do juízo estético kantiano, tendo em vista um julgamento do ponto de vista de toda a humanidade. Trata-se de uma perspectiva humanista do sujeito kantiano, que entende possível o seu resgate para a pós-modernidade. Estudaremos a introdução e a primeira metade da Crítica da Faculdade do Juízo de Immanuel Kant. Depois analisaremos a apropriação realizada por Hannah Arendt do juízo reflexivo, a partir de um estudo de suas Lições sobre a Filosofia Política de Kant . Nesta obra, Arendt aproveitará do juízo reflexivo para lançar bases a um julgamento que tenha como ponto central a observação de um acontecimento particular do ponto de vista de toda a humanidade. Tal julgamento é possível apenas a partir do pensamento alargado

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:32:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio Jose Rollas de Brito.pdf: 428891 bytes, checksum: d03fad27f0bbe80f0b1353cbab7c00d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-18 / Based on Hannah Arendt s thoughts, this thesis aims to reflect about how the idea of public happiness an expression that is used in the author s main works may contribute for the contemporary debates involving the theme of happiness. In the present days, happiness is often thought only in terms of biological life or man s vital process. The obligation of being happy is the culmination of the modern Project and the consolidation of production, labor force s reproduction and consumption of goods under the sign of private property, wealth accumulation, individualism and hyperconsumption. Our problem is not to examine actual policies of happiness but to take public happiness as an analytical perspective, for its ability to empower the critics of these policies of happiness in contemporary societies. With this work we intend to contribute with the present Social Psychology studies of happiness, especially for the opening of a new field of studies and research, articulated within the concept of public happiness / A partir do pensamento de Hannah Arendt, essa tese objetiva refletir sobre como a felicidade pública, expressão presente nos principais trabalhos da autora, pode contribuir para os debates contemporâneos que envolvem o tema da felicidade, que têm privilegiado uma única dimensão da felicidade, relacionada à vida biológica ou ao processo vital do homem. O dever de sermos felizes se apresenta como ponto de chegada do projeto inaugurado na era Moderna, em que a produção, a reprodução da força do trabalho e o consumo de bens voltados para a satisfação e o bem estar pessoal se consolidaram na sociedade contemporânea sob a forma da propriedade privada, do acúmulo da riqueza, do individualismo e do hiperconsumo. Nosso problema não é examinar as políticas da felicidade na atualidade, mas tomar a perspectiva da felicidade pública como lugar analítico, que torna fecundas as críticas às políticas da felicidade nas sociedades contemporâneas. Com este trabalho pretendemos contribuir para os estudos da felicidade na Psicologia Social Contemporânea, particularmente para a abertura de um novo campo de estudos e pesquisas em torno do conceito de felicidade pública

Democracy seems to be in crisis and scholars have started to consider the possibility that “the only game in town” might be rigged. This book theorizes the crisis of democracy from a structural point of view, arguing that liberal representative governments suffer from systemic corruption, a form of political decay that should be understood as the oligarchization of society, and proposes an anti-oligarchic institutional solution based on a radical interpretation of republican constitutional thought. If one agrees that the minimal normative expectation of liberal democracies is that governments should advance the welfare of the majority within constitutional safeguards, increasing income inequality and the relative immiseration of the majority of citizens would be in itself a deviation from good rule, a sign of corruption. As a way to understand how we could revert the current patterns of political corruption, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the institutional, procedural, and normative innovations to protect political liberty proposed by Niccolò Machiavelli, Nicolas de Condorcet, Rosa Luxemburg, and Hannah Arendt. Because their ideas to institutionalize popular power have consistently been misunderstood, instrumentalized, demonized, or neglected, part of what this project wants to accomplish is to offer a serious engagement with their proposals through a plebeian interpretative lens that renders them as part of the same intellectual tradition. In this way, the book assembles a “B side” of constitutional thought composed of the apparent misfits in a tradition that has been dominated by the impulse to suppress conflict instead of harnessing its liberty-producing properties. As a way to effectively deal with systemic corruption and oligarchic domination, the book proposes to follow this plebeian constitutionalism and instituionalize popular collective power. A proposed plebeian branch would be autonomous and aimed not at achieving self-government or direct democracy, but rather at an effort to both judge and censor elites who rule. The plebeian branch would consist of two institutions: a decentralized network of radically inclusive local assemblies, empowered to initiate and veto legislation as well as to exercise periodic constituent power, and a delegate, surveillance office able to enforce decisions and impeach public officials. The establishment of primary assemblies at the local level would not only allow ordinary people to push back against oligarchic domination through the political system but also inaugurate an institutional conception of the people as the many assembled locally: a political collective agent operating as a network of political judgment in permanent flow. The people as network would be a political subject with as many brains as assemblies, in which collective learning, reaction against domination, and social change would occur organically and independently from representative government and political parties.