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 humanistic inquiry, we are less equipped to control the consequences of (...) our actions—continue to confront us today. This new edition, published to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of its original publication, contains an improved and expanded index and a new introduction by noted Arendt scholar Margaret Canovan which incisively analyzes the book's argument and examines its present relevance. A classic in political and social theory, _The Human Condition_ is a work that has proved both timeless and perpetually timely. Hannah Arendt was one of the leading social theorists in the United States. Her _Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy_ and _Love and Saint Augustine_ are also published by the University of Chicago Press. (shrink)

Margaret Canovan argues in this book that much of the published work on Arendt has been flawed by serious misunderstandings, arising from a failure to see her work in its proper context. The author shows how such misunderstanding was possible, and offers a fundamental reinterpretation, drawing on Arendt's unpublished as well as her published work, which sheds new light on most areas of her thought.

The modern revival of classical republican themes in political thought has not in general been sympathetic to nationalism. Despite the communitarian overtones of the republican critique of liberal individualism, the vivid sense of political solidarity, and the commitment to shared responsibility for a public world, republicans have in general conceived of citizenship as an alternative to nationhood rather than an expression of it. Moreover, republicans have sometimes explicitly claimed or more often tacitly assumed that good citizens are patriotic but not (...) nationalistic. Republican polities, in other words, tend to be understood as different from nation-states, with different and less objectionable sources of solidarity. (shrink)

The modern revival of classical republican themes in political thought has not in general been sympathetic to nationalism. Despite the communitarian overtones of the republican critique of liberal individualism, the vivid sense of political solidarity, and the commitment to shared responsibility for a public world, republicans have in general conceived of citizenship as an alternative to nationhood rather than an expression of it. Moreover, republicans have sometimes explicitly claimed or more often tacitly assumed that good citizens are patriotic but not (...) nationalistic. Republican polities, in other words, tend to be understood as different from nation-states, with different and less objectionable sources of solidarity. (shrink)