Arendt Hannah. The Human Condition

2nd edition. — University of Chicago Press, 1998. — 349 p.The Human Condition, completed in 1957 and published in 1958, is one of the central theoretical works of the philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt. It is an account of the historical development of the situation of human activity, from the ancient Greeks to modern Europe.Arendt aims the book at the possibilities of the vita activa (the title she preferred) in the modern world. She defines the three activities – labor, work, and action – and describes four possible realms: the political, the social, the public, and the private. She then explains how the ancient Greeks positioned each activity in each realm, and criticises the modern world from this standpoint.A work of striking originality bursting with unexpected insights, The Human Condition is in many respects more relevant now than when it first appeared in 1958. In her study of the state of modern humanity, Hannah Arendt considers humankind from the perspective of the actions of which it is capable. The problems Arendt identified then—diminishing human agency and political freedom, the paradox that as human powers increase through technological and humanistic inquiry, we are less equipped to control the consequences of our actions—continue to confront us today. This new edition, published to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of its original publication, contains an improved and expanded index and a new introduction by noted Arendt scholar Margaret Canovan which incisively analyzes the book's argument and examines its present relevance. A classic in political and social theory, The Human Condition is a work that has proved both timeless and perpetually timely.Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was one of the leading social theorists in the United States. Her Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy and Love and Saint Augustine are also published by the University of Chicago Press.Prologue
The Human Condition
Vita Activa and the Human Condition
The Term Vita Activa
Eternity versus Immortality
The Public and the Private Realm
Man: A Social or a Political Animal
The Polis and the Household
The Rise of the Social
The Public Realm: The Common
The Private Realm: Property
The Social and the Private
The Location of Human Activities
Labor
"The Labour of Our Body and the Work of Our Hands"
The Thing-Character of the World
Labor and Life
Labor and Fertility
The Privacy of Property and Wealth
The Instruments of Work and the Division of Labor
A Consumers' Society
Work
The Durability of the World
Reification
Instrumentality and Animal Laborans
Instrumentality and Homo Faber
The Exchange Market
The Permanence of the World and the Work of Art
Action
The Disclosure of the Agent in Speech and Action
The Web of Relationships and the Enacted Stories
The Frailty of Human Affairs
The Greek Solution
Power and the Space of Appearance
Homo Faber and the Space of Appearance
The Labor Movement
The Traditional Substitution of Making for Acting
The Process Character of Action
Irreversibility and the Power To Forgive
Unpredictability and the Power of Promise
The Vita Activa and the Modern Age
World Alienation
The Discovery of the Archimedean Point
Universal versus Natural Science
The Rise of the Cartesian Doubt
Introspection and the Loss of Common Sense
Thought and the Modern World View
The Reversal of Contemplation and Action
The Reversal within the Vita Activa and the Victory of Homo Faber
The Defeat of Homo Faber and the Principle of Happiness
Life as the Highest Good
The Victory of the Animal Laborans