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Hannah Arendt is one of the most fascinating political philosophers of the 20th century. One of her main concepts is the idea of “natality,” which she bases on an insight proposed by St. Augustine: “That a beginning be made, man was created.” Just as human beings are new beginnings, they are capable of initiating new beginnings, which for her is the quintessence of what it means to act. To be able to act is to be able to start something new, which is another way of speaking about freedom. This freedom, however, can only be realized in the context of human plurality. For Arendt, acting means acting together. And it is here that one enters the realm of politics as the public realm, the space of appearance, in which human beings act together and take initiative, thus actualizing their freedom. The course will situate these topics in the larger framework of Arendt’s thought, provide interpretive keys to it, and enable students to gain new perspectives on perennial questions that touch the foundations of anthropology, ethics, and politics