The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt

Featured by Longhorn

Published in 1958, “The Human Condition” is Hannah Arendt’s take on how “human activities” should be and have been understood throughout Western history.

Arendt is interested in the vita activa (active life) as contrasted with the vita contemplativa (contemplative life) and concerned that the debate over the relative status of the two has blinded us to important insights about the vita activa and the way in which it has changed since ancient times.

She distinguishes three sorts of activity (labor, work, and action) and discusses how they have been affected by changes in Western history.

Men in plural can experience meaningfulness only because they can talk with and make sense to each other and themselves.

Hannah Arendt

Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu

by Longhorn

The “Tao Te Ching”, roughly translated into The Book of the Way and of Virtue, is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi. The text’s authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are still debated.

It is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism and strongly influenced other schools of Chinese philosophy and religion, including Legalism, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism, which was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts.

When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created.
When people see things as good, evil is created.

Lao Tzu