ΦTHALASSAJournal of Philosophy
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The Human Condition

Hannah Arendt

Political philosophy · Advanced

Arendt’s central work of political philosophy and a lasting defence of the public realm.

Hannah Arendt · first circulated 1958

Main ideas

  • Labour, work, and action distinguished as human activities.
  • Politics understood as appearing and acting among others.

Important themes

PluralityActionPublic world

Reading context

Published in 1958, distinguishing labour, work and action as three kinds of human activity, and arguing that modern life has crowded out action, the only one that takes place between people.

How to approach it

The prologue and the chapter on action are the essentials. Her use of the Greek polis is a device for thinking with rather than a historical claim to check.