Books

8vo., 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. Edgewear and light chipping to unclipped ($4.75) jacket, lower panel has some light staining, not affecting book. 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 contemplativa (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.