Abstract

Arendt’s view on authority is twofold. On one side authority seems to belong to an irrecoverable past, something which passed away with the end of the tradition. On the other side modern politics is characterized by revolutions, which are comprehensible only in their paradoxical quest for an authority as the new juridical and political order wants a legitimization. Attention will be drawn on the American Revolution in order to show the rise of a new tradition. In this case it is the act of foundation itself which plays the role of an authority and provides a support for moral and political judgment