Arendt’s Concept of Conscience

This article examines how the concept of conscience evolves in Hannah Arendt’s thought during the 1970s. Focusing on two motifs in her writing during that time, the “voice” of conscience and the “personality” of conscience, the article demonstrates that Arendt’s changing attitude towards conscience reflects a broader shift in her later writing—namely that from politics towards a more philosophical approach centered around the life of the mind.