INTERPRETATION METAMORPHOSES OF THE PUBLIC AND THE PRIVATE

Text topic: Studies

Text author: Željko Senković i Slaven Lendić

Richard Sennett has analyzed the period from 1750 up to the contemporary time, when the dominance of the culture of intimacy has transformed the political categories into psychological ones. The rise of the culture of intimacy had brought about the downfall of social theatrics, which has in turn caused the disappearance of public life. The family has transcended from a “particular, not-public” area into a haven, a world of its own, with a more stern moral code than the public sphere. Politicians have started to present their character to the public, as well as their feelings and the power of personal convictions. Here the theory of Hannah Arendt is analyzed from the horizon of so-called theatrical dimension of the public sphere and agonistic politics, through which the nature of worldliness is discussed. Some authors have criticized the mixing of internal and external areas (Hannah Arendt and Richard Sennett) while others (such as Peter Sloterdijk) have shown that there are consensuses which precede the separation of the internal and the external.