Most of the most contentious contemporary issues, like abortion, euthanasia and healthcare, welfare, tobacco, and suchlike, concern the problem of life. The argument can be made, and Arendt makes it, that the modern state, in its care for life, has moved from the power over death (capital punishment) to the power over life. It is Arendt's purpose to show that modern politics, in its absorption the public by the private, turns politics into economics (the household), where formerly the care of "life" was located. In a world in which there is neither the immortality of the state nor the individual, bare life becomes the highest value. (Strauss makes the argument that a politics that begins in the state of nature leads directly to "humanitarianism," to a politics devoted to eliminating suffering, and the argument is the same.) A politics devoted to life leaves no "space" (a decidedly unGreek word, used again and again by Arendt and every hip business exec today) for politics, for the play of concealment and disclosure, darkness and light, bright shining words and the privacy and darkness of pain, defecation, eating, love, etc. It is Heidegger put to good use, and Arendt reminds us that the elimination of the politics, or its suppression, is inseparable from a Seinsvergessenheit, but the real life-and-death issue is better grasped by Schmitt and Strauss, who do not fall into the trap of aestheticizing politics.

this book starts off with a breathtaking reflections on the launch of the sputnik. arendt seemingly places us before the launch as witness, evoking the kind of awe, wonderment, fear and anxiety that must arise from such a sight. the prologue is amazing.

i could easily come up with at least a dozen potential research projects from this book that arendt just touches on the surface. (as is the case with arendt's philosophy, it is, at its best, always very suggestive but, at its worst, she never follows through on the initial offering.)

and arendt considered this book as her response to the influence of heidegger; i think that this is a most correct assessment. in fact, this is the great heidegger-book that heidegger himself never could have written. in my view, the latter heidegger pales in comparison (on subjects such as technology, poetry, speech, and history, arendt tops her former mentor). heidgger was truely out-foxed by this book.

i suspect that even the amateur (defined here as the lover of an entity-x) will find much in this book to make this a life-changing experience. in philosophy we often talk of such 'life-changing' books but they are really few in number. this is one such book.

be on the look out for the moment where the discussion of nietzsche's conception of the promise effortlessly morphs into the birth of christ as a miracle. (note: for arendt, the miracle isn't christ but the birth itself, for that matter any birth).

full of grace, this book will be devastating and ultimately redeeming.

Hannah Arendt makes the case that what distinguishes human beings is that they are constantly making new beginnings. This leads her to theories of social action that have implications for our self esteem, our "making of ourselves" and how we influence and participate in social action.

She reveals the implications of this inherent tendency to "make new beginnings" in the uncertainty of outcomes of our action. What we start we cannot know the outcome of beforehand. That is, in significant part, because those who come along after we start something will add or change with their own capacity for making new beginnings.

This says we need social attributes of foregiveness. She also develops the importance of promising in a culture so that we can create some certainty by this social action.

She is writing about social action and involvement in the broad social life. But she could as easily be writing about entrepreneurship and corporate life or any any other social activity.

A stimulating book indeed!

The author does a fine job here of critiquing Gilbert Keith Chesterton and his political and social views. She glances briefly at his fiction novels and shows how they help illuminate his populism and then proceeds to study Chesterton's own political writings. She does a fine job of explaining his thoughts and arguments and his populism, unusual in England at that time. The Chesterton wit is as evident as always in this study, with numerous fine and intelligent quotes. The author studies how Chesterton's religious views did or did not impact upon his political ones, and also studies Chesterton's take on numerous issues. Concise, well-written and recommended for any fan of politics or of good writers.

The author does a fine job here of critiquing Gilbert Keith Chesterton and his political and social views. She glances briefly at his fiction novels and shows how they help illuminate his populism and then proceeds to study Chesterton's own political writings. She does a fine job of explaining his thoughts and arguments and his populism, unusual in England at that time. The Chesterton wit is as evident as always in this study, with numerous fine and intelligent quotes. The author studies how Chesterton's religious views did or did not impact upon his political ones, and also studies Chesterton's take on numerous issues. Concise, well-written and recommended for any fan of politics or of good writers.