The Human Condition, 2nd Edition 2nd Edition

by Hannah Arendt (Author), Margaret Canovan (Introduction)

62 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0226025988

ISBN-10: 0226025985

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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.

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Product details

Paperback: 370 pages
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press; 2nd edition (December 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0226025985
ISBN-13: 978-0226025988
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 62 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Philosophy > History & Surveys
- #6 in Books > Textbooks > Social Sciences > Sociology
- #7 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Modern

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Mark P.

A classic

November 8, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is a brilliant book that will change the way you think about the possibilities of politics and the potential for humans, acting together, to generate power and change their shared world. Writing in the depths of the Cold War, Arendt was prescient about the internal threats to the U.S. and also the potential that was realized thirty years later when the Iron Curtain crumbled.

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January 7, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

THE HUMAN CONDITION is among the top 10 most important theoretical works of the 20th century, and Arendt arguably among the greatest social theorists. For me, this book qualifies Arendt as the one greatest social theorist of modern times. Hannah Arendt will cure you of making false assumptions about something we like to call "human nature." That is dangerous and always has been. Instead, she explores the "human condition" and after reading this book the first time over thirty years ago I have returned time and again when I have lost my way.

8 people found this helpful

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Jiang Xueqin

A Grand Yet Mundane Work

June 15, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Hannah Arendt is easily one of my favorite political philosophers, a clear and powerful thinker of the human condition. But while I was truly impressed by "Eichmann in Jerusalem" and "On Revolution," I am not so keen on "The Human Condition." Here, Arendt seeks to be much more all-encompassing and grander than in her previous works, but I find it more mundane and limited.

In this sprawling work (it's only a little more than 300 pages, but it feels longer) Hannah Arendt dissects the three conditions of man: labor, work, and action. Labor is what a slave or a man in the state of nature must do: toil with his body in order to obtain the nutrients and subsistence necessary to live one more day. Work is what a craftsman does, an expression of his individual identity through physical exertion and toil. Action is what humans in a pluralistic action do -- think and speak, invent and imagine in order to win the respect of their equals and to elevate themselves in their eyes.

We have seen this sort of formulation before -- most notably in Plato's writings, and indeed Plato and the Greeks (especially Thucycides) are alluded to frequently here. It seems that for Arendt Greece was a pinnacle of human action in which humans thought and battled over ideas in their debates. It is a world of thought and action that Arendt writing as early as 1958 could see being withered and decayed by the growing onslaught of technology -- how technology has made our lives infinitely more convenient, but at the same time alienated us from our hands, and forced us into a cocoon of our lonely private lives. Arendt's call for action -- to restore the thinking and active life -- is noble and earnest, but reading it in a modern context -- with the dominance of Facebook, Apple, and Google -- it also seems quaint and silly.

This book is one of Arendt's more abstract works, and it's a very difficult text to read, something that the introducer (who wrote a fabulous introduction) mentioned repeatedly. Earnest Arendt fans must read this title, of course -- but for those who are looking to get started on Arendt, then "Eichmann in Jerusalem" is a much more accessible and relevant work.

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Amazon Customer

Not something I'd want to read again.

November 27, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I won't lie, I didn't love this book. However, I did need it for college. An okay read. Nothing to write home about.

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Pearl Crescent

Not quite what I expected but a classic nonetheless

December 28, 2006

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Arendt's book is really more a disquisition on political theory than an explanation of the human condition in all its endlessly tragic vicissitudes.

It was interesting, and I learned more about ancient Greek and Roman political theory than I really wanted to know; with the most interesting facet being the defining of the terms "labor", "work", and "action" as they pertain to the the means by which the human animal has his being in the world. But by and large, it really didn't touch on the human condition in a way that enlarged my understanding of the essence of its gestalt.

The most interesting chapter is the one on action as the public realm in which some men choose to live and act, and how that affects both the present and the future. While action is essentially ephemeral in nature, its impact on the human condition is one that can and often does have unintended consequences reaching far into the future like ripples on a pond spreading outward from a central occurence. It is that very unpredictability that is its foremost feature.

Labor too is ephemeral in nature, in its attendance on the basic needs of mankind, food and shelter. Only work, in Arendt's estimation is durable and in this category she places all forms of art.

It is not an easy book to read but, given a little effort, accessible to even a novice at political theory.

7 people found this helpful

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Tom

gives on pause to consider what we assume -- often without good reason to do so

June 27, 2016

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Challenging insights into what we know and don't know. Highly thought provoking, gives on pause to consider what we assume -- often without good reason to do so.

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Must read

December 26, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

My favorite work from Arendt. I recommend reading this piece before Arendt's books: Between Past and Future, and Crises of the Republic.

4 people found this helpful

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August 26, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Another must read from Hannah Arendt. The contemporary world still needs ingenious thinkers like her to overcome the modern challanges before democracy.

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Most recent customer reviews

Josie Garwood

Five Stars

Arrived in great condition and this edition is very good

Published 1 month ago

Odette

Four Stars

great book but dense

Published 4 months ago

Evitarossi Budiawan

Five Stars

Great condition!

Published 5 months ago

K. Anthony Edwards PhD

Three Stars

Not as good as expected but it's okay.

Published 10 months ago

haley

If you like theory and what not you might like this book ...

If you like theory and what not you might like this book but half the time I don't understand what she's trying to say and she tends to talk in circles.

Published 1 year ago

281M

Find the hay in the needle stack

This book is too much for me. It's too long. The writing style is too difficult, with winding sentences that are easy to get lost in.Read more

Published 1 year ago

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Five Stars

As described, fast ship.

Currently the most read philosopher showing the Deutsche school of ...

Currently the most read philosopher showing the Deutsche school of philosophics. How the theme changed from Greece to late Rome by the end of stoicism and shifts from public to...Read more

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