The Human Condition
Hannah Arendt’s book, The Human Condition, examines the “vita activa” and it’s relation to three fundamental human activities: labor, work and action. Arendt holds that these three activities “correspond to one of the basic conditions under which life on earth has been given to man” and make up politics (7). Throughout the book Arendt ultimately makes the point that our main political job is to discover other people’s opinions about political life and to then go forward and examine these opinions together. Differing viewpoints and opinions are inevitable and through politics we examine these opinions and should be able to find agreements within the discrepancies. In Arendt’s opinion examining opinions together is doing politics. In Arendt’s version of democracy people must find common ground about disagreements, not merely find any agreement to settle upon.
The first activity Arendt identifies is labor, which relates to the human condition of life. In Arendt’s definition, labor encompasses the making of something meant to be consumed and is necessary for sustaining life and corresponds with the biological process of life. Labor items experience a brief length of stay in the world and are made by routine processes. These are products that are consumed and made by routine process, which includes the production of food and reproduction. An example of labor would be the making of bread. Arendt thinks that labor has been the same for 2500 years and is comprised of four aspects. The first aspect of labor is its purpose, which is to keep the body alive. The second is the ability of bodies. Labor depends on bodily effort or “human labor power”. The third aspect of labor regards natural productivity. This involves t...
... middle of paper ...
...e them as “human.” While they are necessary for human survival, they do not require interactions and relationships between people. I think they are vital, but not the most human. Action provides human contact, which in my opinion is just as crucial for survival as things such as food and shelter. With no other contact, I think society would rapidly deteriorate, leaving people possibly more violent and reclusive.
The Human Condition provides a great insight to politics and life today. It successfully evaluates different activities and their importance and prevalence in past times as well as present day, highlighting the differences and importance of each activity. While Hannah Arendt identifies action as being most human and most meaningful, she still manages to acknowledges the benefits and necessities that go along with the other two activities, labor and work.
callous to the death of their peers, and going so far as to murder fellow
There is a old time saying that “you will never know what true happiness feels like until you have felt pain”. In order to reach where you are going in life you have to go through hardship and pain to find your inner contentment. Often times,people who have too much in life always takes it for granted ,because all they have is pleasure and not knowing the feelings of pain and being without. Martha C. Nussbaum author of “who is the happy warrior” states that you have to go through pain to find the true meaning of happiness while Daniel M.Haybron author of “Happiness and Its Discontents” states that pain doesn 't bring happiness,happiness is just a thing you feel when you think you may have enough. To find happiness you have to go through the unbearable process of life.
In the article “The Coddling of the American Mind” the authors Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt express that college campuses in America are dealing with emotional discomfort every day. They point out whether we are too emotional on certain topics in our lives or we need to change something on college campuses to have students feel more comfortable. College student have experienced a lot in life so I think that campuses should help college students through traumatic experiences in their past instead of not acknowledging certain topics and banning them to discuss in class like rape and domestic violence which happens in our everyday life. Colleges need to step up and talk about these things so students can feel more comfortable.
In Christy Wampole’s “How to Live Without Irony” and Richard Taylor’s “The Meaning of Human Existence” both authors argue how humans ought to live a meaningful life. Wampole tackles the argument in a different way than Taylor but they both have similar positions on the meaning. I agree with both authors in some of the ways that we should dictate our lives to justify meaningfulness but I also believe that meaningfulness can differ from person to person. Life is very precious to us; since humans have had the ability to consciously think, we have always questioning our existence. No other animal on the planet has had the luxury of pondering whether or not their life is meaningful.
Today, women are not typically seen in higher levels of position in the work force than men. In Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”, she uses her own experience to convey why it is not possible for a woman to work in a higher position, due to women being more emotional than men. People still believe it’s a women’s place to stay at home to cook, clean and take care of the children, while the men go to work to pay the bills. And it’s considered odd if the man is a stay at home father and the woman is working 24/7 and is never home. Even though it is rewarding to be able to always be there to see your child’s milestones in their life. It is always nice to get away from that life for even a moment. I don’t mean going out with the girls or guys, while you hire a babysitter, but helping your husband or wife pay the bills, so you have two rather than one income coming in at the end of the month. In Richard Dorment’s article, “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All” he states that both men and women can’t have it all. I agree with both Slaughter and Dorment, but not entirely. I believe if you want to be a good
In his piece, “Human Dignity”, Francis Fukuyama explores the perception of human dignity in today's society. This perception is defined by what Fukuyama calls “Factor X”. This piece draws attention to how human dignity has been affected recently and its decline as we go into the future. Using the input given by the Dalai Lama in his piece, “Ethics and New Genetics”, the implementing of factor X and human dignity on future generations will be explored. Through the use of the pieces, “Human Dignity and Human Reproductive Cloning by Steven Malby, Genetic Testing and Its Implications: Human Genetics Researchers Grapple with Ethical Issues by Isaac Rabino, and Gender Differences in the Perception of Genetic Engineering Applied to Human Reproduction by Carol L. Napolitano and Oladele A. Ogunseitan, the decline on the amount of human dignity found in today's society as well as the regression in Factor X that can be found today compared to times past. Society's twist on ethics as a result of pop culture and an increase in genetic engineering has caused for the decline in the amount of dignity shown by the members of society and the regression of Factor X to take hold in today's society.
Often in life, people take their freedoms, a gift that allows them to express their individuality, for granted. However, in the dystopian societies of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, people are reminded of just how easily their freedoms and humanity can be stripped away. Attwood and Ishiguro urge people to never lose sight of the core values that define who they are. The compelling novels chronicle the life journey of two protagonists as they fight to define their own existence and worth in life. Offred, the central character in The Handmaid’s Tale is exploited as a baby making machine, while Kathy, the leading role in Never Let Me Go, is degraded as a lifeless android in a sea of clones. From Atwood and Ishiguro’s provocative coming-of-age novels emerge two beautiful and inspiring heroines. Whether it is through their remembrance of the past, their loss of innocence, their capability to hope, or their ability to establish relationships, Offred and Kathy prove that they are every bit as human as the rest of society. Ultimately, despite the many differences in their distinct masterpieces, Atwood and Ishiguro share the same intent in their haunting portrayal of the protagonists’ dehumanizabtion—to shed light on the true essence of what it is to be human.
Night by Elie Wiesel is one man’s story of surviving the holocaust and his struggle with maintaining relationships with his family and other Jews as they are dehumanized by their captivity and conditions. Through the characterization in the book as well as through the recounting of his journey, itself, Wiesel tells the story of how humankind can dehumanize others and cause the captives to also begin to dehumanize one another.
In the “American Holocaust” by David Stannard, Stannard points out how the Spaniards, British, and Americans were treating the indigenous people differently. In chapter 1 of the “American Holocaust,” Stannard talks about how the Europeans main goal was to find and acquire gold. When the Europeans began to arrive in America they began to discover a land that contained a variety of gold. Once they discovered that there was gold they began to establish and did not see the indigenous people as part of the land. Indigenous people were required to work in forced labor and take care of the land however they were not part of the land and did not have their own property, towns and villages. In the first chapter of the American Holocaust Stannard
In the novel, “We the Living” by Ayn Rand, the setting takes place in Petrograd, after the civil war. Ayn Rand gives her novel a tone of despair, helplessness, and anger. She describes the atmosphere as dirty, dusty, poor, old, and crazy. Ayn Rand’s word choices create very vivid and strong concrete images. For example, saying the setting is full of cobwebs shows it takes place in an old and dusty atmosphere.
(36) The first part of the Morality Lectures 1995, given by Arendt at New School, was published as "Some Questions of Moral Philosophy." In Social Research, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Winter 1994), pp. 739-64. The other three parts remain unpublished as "Some Questions of Moral Philosophy". Morality Lectures 1965, New School for Social Research, Hannah Arendt's Papers, The Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, container 45. We will take the following systematic: 'Some Questions of Moral Philosophy I' for the part published and 'Some Questions of Moral Philosophy II' for the unpublished one. This quotation is in 'Some Questions of Moral Philosophy II' 024633.
There are many themes that occur and can be interpreted differently throughout the novel. The three main themes that stand out most are healing, communication, and relationships.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank was published in 1947. When the book was published a lot of people were impacted. It started getting more and more famous all around the world. In no time 30 million copies of the book was sold. Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett decided to make a play based on Anne Franks book. The play was a huge success and it was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 3. After George Stevens decided to make a movie about Anne Frank. There were some famous actors in the movie like, Shelley Winters playing Mrs. Van Pels and Millie Perkins as Anne Frank (pg.282, The Diary of a Young Girl).
In the article “What makes us moral” by Jeffrey Kluger, he describes how morality is defined and how the people follow rules. Kluger discusses about scientific research that has been done to point out the important reasons of morality. Kluger explains that a person’s decision to do something good or bad is based on empathy, that humans tend not to do bad to those they sympathize with. Kluger also compares humans with animals and thinks that morality is the only thing that separates us from animals. I do agree with Kluger that people are born with a sense of right and wrong, but we should be taught how to use it. We learned to be nicer to those around us because we already know the type of person they are, and the morality we learned as children
In her book, On Violence, Hannah Arendt studies violence as it relates to war, science, power, aggression, and the like. In this paper, I will speak on the topic of violence as it pertains to aggression. I argue that we, as human beings, possess at least a basic level of aggression that is explainable through animalistic research and characteristics. This argument is one that contradicts the overarching ideas of Arendt’s thoughts on the topic. Through an explicative and then disputatious discourse, I hope to bring validity to my viewpoint.