New wine in an old bottle? Classical notions of political philosophy in a changed political reality.

Is it true that classical notions of political thought--legitimacy, sovereignty, democracy, etc.--must be reinterpreted? It seems very hard to grasp the essence of our political reality with the aid of the intellectual tool-box of classical political philosophy inherited mostly from the thinkers of early modernity. New situations seem to be un-interpretable with the binary codes of modernity: inner--outer, private--public, etc. According to Hannah Arendt, we are standing at the breaking point of the tradition when inherited ideas and our life experiences come into conflict with each other; the former become an inadequate interpretative framework for the latter. What can a political philosopher do in this situation that is simultaneously both threatening and promising? It is threatening because it involves the temptation of discarding our tradition in political philosophy and challenging because it gives a possibility to the fruitful reinterpretation of our heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]