The Human Condition

1. The Vita Activa

Dear Reader,

What are the conditions under which life has been given to human beings? What are the basic activities that compose a human life? Is it important to draw a distinction between private life and public life? Between work time and leisure time?

In the first chapter of The Human Condition, Arendt describes what she terms the Vita Activa, or the active life of a human being.

She separates the Vita Activa into three fundamental activities: labor, work, and action. Each of these activities, Arendt argues, is a fundamental part of the human condition.

In the video below, I break down the first part of Chapter One.