A work of striking originality bursting with unexpected insights, The Human condition is in many respects more relevant now than when it first appeared in 1958. In her study of the state of modern humanity, Hannah Arendt considers humankind from the perspective of the actions of which it is capable. The problems Arendt identified then--diminishing human agency and political freedom, the paradox that as human powers increase through technological and...

Arendt confronts the inadequancy of triditional moral "truths" as standards to judge what we are capable of doing, and she examines anew our ability to distinguish good from evil and right from wrong. Arendt comes to understand that alongside the radical evil she had addressed in earlier analyses of totalitarianism, there exist a more prenicious evil, independent of political ideology, whose execution is limitless when the prepetrator feels no remorse...

"Hannah Arendt began her scholarly career with an exploration of Saint Augustine's concept of caritas, or neighborly love, written under the direction of Karl Jaspers and the influence of Martin Heidegger. After her German academic life came to a halt in 1933, Arendt carried her dissertation into exile in France, and years later took the same battered and stained copy to New York. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, as she was completing or reworking...

Antisemitism -- Imperialism -- Totalitarianism.

The introduction by Feldman (p. 15-52), "The Jew as Pariah: The Case of Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)", discusses her life and writings, including her views regarding antisemitism in the 19th-20th centuries. Pp. 240-279 contain material on the controversy over Arendt's book "Eichmann in Jerusalem"--Exchanges between her and the scholars Gershom Scholem and Walter Laqueur stating their objections to her views, along with her responses.

Hannah Arendt's last philosophical work was an intended three-part project entitled 'The Life of the Mind'. Unfortunately, Arendt lived to complete only the first two parts, 'Thinking' and 'Willing'. Of the third, 'Judging', only the title page, with epigraphs from Cato and Goethe, was found after her death. As the title suggests, Arendt conceived of her work roughly parallel to the three 'Critiques' of Immanuel Kant. In fact, while she began work...

"Isak Dinesen . . . had an original approach to life that permeated all her work. She loved storytelling, with the result that most of her essays are quasi-narratives, which proceed not from major to minor premise but from one anecdote to another as the way of making concrete whatever idea she is considering. Her work is a delight and at times a marvel." - The New Yorker