Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition

International audienceWith Dr Anthony Lang - Head of the Schook of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. Hannah Arendt's 1958 The Human Condition was an impassioned philosophical reconsideration of the goals of being human. In its arguments about the kind of lives we should lead and the political engagement we should strive for, Arendt's interpretative skills come to the fore, in a brilliant display of what high-level interpretation can achieve for critical thinking. Arendt's aim is to lay out an argument for political engagement and active participation in society as the highest goals of human life; and to this end, she sets about defining a hierarchy of ways of living a "vita activa," or active life. The book sets about distinguishing between our different activities under the categories of "labour", "work", and "action" - each of which Arendt carefully redefines as a different level of active engagement with the world. Following her clear and careful laying out of each word's meaning, it becomes hard to deny her argument for the life of "action" as the highest human goal.Dans cet ouvrage, nous présentons et analysons avec Anthony Lang cette œuvre d’Hannah Arendt, en lien avec le contexte dans lequel elle a été produite, et en soulignant les influences qui ont influencées l’auteure. L’ouvrage suit le plan suivant : Introduction. Ways in to the text; Who was Hannah Arendt?; What does The Human Condition say? Why does The Human Condition matter?; Section 1. Influences: The Author and the Historical Context, Academic Context, The Problem, The Author's Contribution; Section 2. Ideas: Main Ideas, Secondary Ideas, Achievement, Place in the Author's Work; Section 3. Impact : The First Responses, The Evolving Debate, Impact and Influence Today, Where Next?; Conclusion, Glossary of Terms, People Mentioned in the Text, Bibliography