Books

Octavo, vi, 332 pages. First printing, with date 1958 and no subsequent printings on verso title page. Publisher's binding sturdy, boards sunned, light wear to corners and to head and foot of spine, gold-stamped lettering at spine crisp; contents unmarked and attractive. unclipped ($4.75) jacket is in excellent condition displaying the very mildest rubbing at the tips. ,An overall excellent copy. The Human Condition, first published in 1958, is Hannah Arendt's account of how "human activities" should be and have been understood throughout Western history. Arendt is interested in the vita activa (active life) as contrasted with the vita contemplative (contemplative life) and concerned that the debate over the relative status of the two has blinded us to important insights about the vita activa and the way in which it has changed since ancient times. She distinguishes three sorts of activity (labor, work, and action) and discusses how they have been affected by changes in Western history (Wikipedia).

Exploration of the nature of human activities in the realms of labor, work, and action.