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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Thought-provoking statement after thought-provoking statement. It's a little of its time - for example, Arendt's understanding of feudal society is behind modern scholarship, and in her time the attention economy wasn't actively conspiring to steal every waking moment of consciousness away from a contemplative life. However, the book is surprisingly applicable to modern society, even over half a century on. Doesn't mean one would've totally agreed with her even back then, but if the purpose of reading is thought, this book will give it to you in spades.
I very much appreciate in Arendt her constant reference to previous philosophers and cultural touchstones - she is in dialogue with humanity in a way I always enjoy. It could, for those who might not have a background with western philosophy, leave one a little unmoored.
I very much appreciate in Arendt her constant reference to previous philosophers and cultural touchstones - she is in dialogue with humanity in a way I always enjoy. It could, for those who might not have a background with western philosophy, leave one a little unmoored.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I'm in a bit of a rut with this one right now. Personally, while I was reading the book, Arendt really seemed to be hitting something that I felt was true. We have seemed to have de-emphasized the importance of politics as it was originally meant - the daily interactions and meaning making that happens with other people as equals, not raw facsimiles we fight online to appeal to our in-group. We have prioritized a life where we work mindlessly for reproduction for the sake of reproduction, and have forgotten the human potential as a collective, as an active people.
However, after a couple days of reflecting and reading some secondary perspectives, there were some pretty devastating elbow drops from other theorists that make me somewhat hesitant to agree that this whole piece was cohesively great. I think Byung Chul Han makes the most devastating assertion in The Scent of Time, in that Arendt is absolutely wrong about the vita contemplativa. We are currently living in a society totally incapable of reflecting on itself, and we have prioritized action in such a way that makes stopping for even a second seem like a waste of time. Industrialists rule the world, and they certainly don't want their workers thinking. Trying to assert that the contemplative hasn't been totally wrung out seems to be missing what life is like for the average person.
As well, the Youtuber I was doing the read along pointed out that this book treads water for forever; it did not need to be 400 pages. All of Arendt's best assertions are basically in the last 150 pages, leaving the rest as basically good table setting. I looked over my notes, and my annotations basically skyrocket once the action chapter hits.
Worthwhile for its introduction to the world of labour/action/thought which is a very interesting lane to chase down, but Arendt trips a bit in her presentation here.
However, after a couple days of reflecting and reading some secondary perspectives, there were some pretty devastating elbow drops from other theorists that make me somewhat hesitant to agree that this whole piece was cohesively great. I think Byung Chul Han makes the most devastating assertion in The Scent of Time, in that Arendt is absolutely wrong about the vita contemplativa. We are currently living in a society totally incapable of reflecting on itself, and we have prioritized action in such a way that makes stopping for even a second seem like a waste of time. Industrialists rule the world, and they certainly don't want their workers thinking. Trying to assert that the contemplative hasn't been totally wrung out seems to be missing what life is like for the average person.
As well, the Youtuber I was doing the read along pointed out that this book treads water for forever; it did not need to be 400 pages. All of Arendt's best assertions are basically in the last 150 pages, leaving the rest as basically good table setting. I looked over my notes, and my annotations basically skyrocket once the action chapter hits.
Worthwhile for its introduction to the world of labour/action/thought which is a very interesting lane to chase down, but Arendt trips a bit in her presentation here.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Read of my own free will. It was a passionate, enriching experience. Recommending 10/10. I will never see life or the world the same way. Can't - and don't want to - stop thinking about this book. Fell in love with the author, spent many sleepless nights together. I feel sorry for anyone who haven't had the opportunity to delve into Arendt's exceptional mind.
Erudite, profound and meticulous.
No doubt, Hannah Arendt is the most influential philosopher and political theorist of her time and now.
No doubt, Hannah Arendt is the most influential philosopher and political theorist of her time and now.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Thoughtful, thorough and both academic and personally reflective.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I am unqualified to review this book, but I read it once. And I am going to need to read it again someday before I will be able to flatter myself I’ve properly digested it. Arendt surveys the western philosophical tradition and social and scientific developments from antiquity to present in order to trace the evolving role of the active life, the life of action, within human affairs. This is an erudite, dense read; I covered a few pages at a stretch, often needing to re-read a paragraph twice or thrice before proceeding; it is rich with insights and demonstrates that Arendt’s was an intellect admissible alongside the towering figures she critiques. As I understand it (not well, presumably), in Arendt’s sense of the term, “action” ought to be, but in our time is not, the most highly esteemed of human engagements, valued above both work and labour, for it has a “revelatory character” via which our words and deeds make us known to one another, and it is able to “produce stories and become historical” and in so doing transcend the futility of metabolic processes, merits “which together form the very source from which meaningfulness springs into and illuminates human existence.” I will be a good long while revisiting the many pages I’ve dog-eared.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Arendt is not an easy read, but her ideas are intriguing. I’m going to be mulling this one over for a long time