Public Sphere

History of a Concept

The origin of the idea of the public sphere can be traced back to ancient Greece. Although there are disputes about the precise characteristics of the ancient public sphere, I rely here mainly on Hannah Arendt whose work still remains one of the most influential reference points. The public sphere, for the Greeks, stood in a sharp opposition to the private realm. The private realm such as the household, home, and family was not something precious to be protected from the vagaries of institutional power as we moderns think, but instead a realm of deprivation. Privacy meant being deprived of things essential to humans, that is, of being seen and heard by other people. This divested nature of the private realm is illustrated by an etymological fact that the current English word idiot comes from the Greek word for private. The private realm was bound to the necessity of life and was mainly the place of production (slaves) and of reproduction (women).

The public realm, on the other hand, was the realm of politics, action, and freedom. It was the space of appearance where one could be seen and be heard by other humans. The presence of others and the plurality of agents constituted the sine qua non of the public realm. In various public settings, such as democratic assemblies, courts, theaters, and battlefields, men (and men only) strived to excel and distinguish themselves from all others. Unlike the private realm where necessity of life yoked everyone equally, the public realm was reserved for individual excellence. Words and deeds were the chief means to acquire excellence, and the best reward for excellence performed in the public realm was immortal fame. Men, as finite beings, were eager to achieve fame that could outlast not only the moment of speech and action, but also the life of the doer of great deeds and the speaker of great words.

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