Hannah Arendt · Politics

Labor, Work, and Action

In her great work of philosophy, Arendt asks what human beings actually <em>do</em> - and divides the active life into three: the labor that keeps us alive, the work that builds a lasting world, and the action by which we appear to one another and begin something new.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned Arendt&rsquo;s three activities of the vita activa . Explain in your own words the difference between labor (which sustains life), work (which builds a world), and action (which begins something new among others).

Leads to Aristotle.

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