The Human Condition Quiz

Summary of "The Human Condition" by Hannah Arendt:

• The book was first published in 1958 and has a prologue and six parts.
• Arendt distinguishes between vita activa and vita contemplativa, focusing on the former.
• The vita activa can be divided into labor, work, and action, which have all changed throughout history.
• In ancient Greece, the public and private realms were separated, with the former being a realm of freedom and the latter being a realm of necessity.
• Feudal lords ran their lands as private realms, and the modern period saw the rise of the social realm, which Arendt views as a threat to the other two realms.
• Labor is a cyclical process directed at meeting biological necessities, and work has a clearly defined beginning and end, leaving behind durable objects.
• Action is the means by which humans disclose themselves to others, distinguishing themselves as unique and unexchangeable beings.
• The modern age has been characterized by events that increase our alienation from the world, leading to an intense focus on the self in philosophy.
• Science has exalted the life of work over the life of contemplation, making us a society of laborers.
• Action is still possible in free societies, but fragile.
• Arendt offers solutions to the problems that action creates: forgiveness and promises.
• Human plurality is the basic condition of both action and speech.