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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
06/2018: I've read only chapters I-II for my philosophy exam.
12/2019: Read also chapter V.
This book is mesmerizing, enriching and definitely worth finishing - I plan on executing this intention at some point.
12/2019: Read also chapter V.
This book is mesmerizing, enriching and definitely worth finishing - I plan on executing this intention at some point.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
FINALLY. no offense Hannah this book was indeed enriching and maybe close to absolute brilliance but if it was anything else it was definitely not concise. (and sometimes a bit hard to follow... like I get what you're saying, but why are you saying it? 'to make you think' sometimes feels like an unsatisfactory answer) loved the optimism in the end though, we are not lost (as long as we can think)
This book's contents are incredibly daunting, but so worth it. This was an amazing read.
A bit hard to read but broken into short/manageable chunks. There’s SO much in here! I’ll have to read it again eventually—would be great to discuss with other students and/or an expert!
medium-paced
Political philosophy is a field with a waste sphere of influence but Hannah Arendt encompasses the whole state of modern humanity into the political realm in her highly ambiguous work The Human Condition. Any attempt to briefly state her key ideas is doomed to fail because rebelling against the traditions of modern scholarship she does not provide an overarching framework for her book while she tackles a multifarious array of ideas spanning early Greek thought, medieval philosophy, modern economics, astrophysics, and automation, to name a few. However, she is mainly concerned with the human world (which she goes into great pains to differentiate from the objective reality of earth) and loosely divides human activities into three general categories: Labor, Work and Action. She believes that the modern social or public sphere has broadened to such an extent that the notion of private life has undergone humongous transformation. For her Labor is an activity that arises out of the necessity to survive and its end products are meant to be consumed immediately as they are perishable in nature. Work, one the other hand, produces goods to be used for extended periods of time. But today the distinction between labor and work is no longer possible as everything is meant to be consumed right away. We are a society of laborers and consumers, caught up in this endless process. The only way out of this meaninglessness is through Action (which is closely connected to Thought). She explains in great detail how it is in the nature of political actions to be unpredictable but that does not mean that humans should do away with them altogether. For her it’s not mortality but natality that defines humanity because we can start anew. I cannot say it with utmost conviction that this is an essential read for those interested in philosophy. The ideas might be too disturbing, not leftist enough or even problematic for many but they invite you to reflect on human condition from a unique perspective that is even more relevant today.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Too difficult for me.