Seth's review
The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt
Seth's review
rating:
bookshelves: school
recommended for: people who feel aware of a human condition
status: Read in October, 2007
rating:
bookshelves: school
recommended for: people who feel aware of a human condition
status: Read in October, 2007
a phenomenological account of how we can break free of fatalism and death, which requires her to make many warnings about modern society and technology.
the greeks are a foil to modern society - they have a conception of the individual that is so thoroughly wrapped in the political that arendt posits an alternate consciousness based on such an existence. of course, they needed slaves to be such avid participants in the polis, but she knows that. perhaps she quietly wants technology to be put to that use (think housemaid robots), instead of tinkering giddily with basic natural substances in volatile ways?
i read for the first time her sections on promises and forgiveness the other day. to go from such heady places as sputnik and pericles down to the level of tenderness she reaches there is quite impressive. how are all these things contained in one coherent book? or, perhaps more importantly, why? i think this is one of the things that leads me to recommend it very highly. it come...more
the greeks are a foil to modern society - they have a conception of the individual that is so thoroughly wrapped in the political that arendt posits an alternate consciousness based on such an existence. of course, they needed slaves to be such avid participants in the polis, but she knows that. perhaps she quietly wants technology to be put to that use (think housemaid robots), instead of tinkering giddily with basic natural substances in volatile ways?
i read for the first time her sections on promises and forgiveness the other day. to go from such heady places as sputnik and pericles down to the level of tenderness she reaches there is quite impressive. how are all these things contained in one coherent book? or, perhaps more importantly, why? i think this is one of the things that leads me to recommend it very highly. it come...more
