Speechlessness and Linguistic Reciprocity in Arendt

Abstract

This article argues that in certain contexts, unreciprocated speech can be an important form of care for persons who would otherwise find it difficult to retain their place in shared worlds of linguistic meaning, such as those who lose capacities for linguistic expression due to illness. Philosophers and political theorists often underscore the importance of reciprocated speech for sharing in a human world. Hannah Arendt makes this point especially forcefully in The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition, in which she suggests that “speechless” persons are excluded from the linguistic “web of relationships.” I reconstruct several of Arendt’s analyses of speech and speechlessness and argue that they are prima facie exclusionary to nonspeaking persons. After responding to several objections against attributing this exclusionary position to Arendt, I identify resources in Arendt’s own writing, as well as that of Iris Marion Young and Aristotle, for theorizing unreciprocated speech as a way of offering listeners footholds in the linguistic spheres of meaning around them.