68 pages 2 hours read

Hannah Arendt

The Human Condition

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1958

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Essay Topics

1.

What does Arendt mean by “the human condition?” How is it different from the notion of “human nature?”

2.

Why, according to Arendt’s analysis in Chapter 2, is the vita contemplativa opposed to the vita activa in the Western philosophical tradition?

3.

What function does the public realm serve for Arendt? What about the private sphere? Does she think that these two domains of human activity are irreconcilable?