A NOTE TO THE READER

AS READERS of Arendt and Heidegger know, one aspect of the Western tradition they do not address critically is its gender bias. Both employ a philosophical/theoretical vocabulary notable for its masculine pronouns and equation of “man” with humanity or human individuals. For the most part, I have chosen to leave their usage intact, rather than create the highly misleading impression of gender neutrality or gender sensitivity in their texts. Since much of my discussion concerns their response to Aristotle, Kant, Nietzsche, et al., the avoidance of anachronism with respect to these authors also required resisting the temptation to transmute their vocabulary into something more palatable from our perspective.