The Human Condition

Hannah Arendt's study of modern existence starts from a single question: what kinds of activity make up a human life? Rather than treating people as isolated thinkers, she examines them through what they are able to do in the world. The difficulties she diagnosed when the book appeared in 1958 have not gone away. People find their capacity to act and their political freedom shrinking, and the more knowledge and technical skill we gain, the less able we seem to be to govern what our actions set in motion.

This fortieth anniversary edition includes a larger, revised index and a new introduction by Margaret Canovan, a leading scholar of Arendt's work. Canovan lays out the book's central argument and considers how far its claims still apply to the present day.

Written by a German-born political theorist who left Nazi Germany, The Human Condition is a foundational text in political and social thought, still read for its lasting relevance to contemporary life.