[Matters 94] Holiday Slow Reading Project 3 - "Hannah Arendt"

In the previous article, after sorting out how Olan differentiates between the "social sphere" and the "public sphere", he then introduced "republicanism" relative to "liberalism", as well as the ancient Greek city-state-style "constitutional government" undertaken by Olan. republic", but with the addition of an "individual" element. This article mainly sorts out what type of "people" is in order to achieve the possibility of "action" (ie, in Erlan's eyes, " action " is the element that contributes to real politics).

Author: Li Jianzhang Publisher: Lianjing (2018)

Table of contents:
1. The practical life of human beings:
> "Labor", "Manufacturing" and "Action" in "The Human Condition"
> What is "labor"?
> What is "manufacturing"?

2. Action is a miracle
> What is "action"?
> Common dangers of "action"
> Vulnerability and remediation of "action"

3. Summary

1. The practical life of human beings:

🌸 "Labor", "Manufacturing" and "Action" in "Conditions of Man" (mainly sorted from pp. 119-121 below)

 Highlights:
=> The respective definitions of "labor", "manufacturing" and "action" => "action" is higher than "labor" and "manufacturing"

In Erlan's thinking, she always believes that highlighting people's " practical life " is more important than "philosophical life (contemplation)".

Therefore, in her "Human Condition", she specifically mentioned that "action", "manufacturing" and "labor" are the three most important activities of human beings. (With the term vita activa, I propose to designate three fundamental human activities: labor, work and action “The Human Condition”, p. 7)

In Elan's eyes, the meanings of these three activities are:

" Labor ": exists to satisfy the human condition of "physical life itself". (Can correspond to "Private Domain")

" Made ": Exist to satisfy the human condition of "universality". (It can correspond back to "Public Domain/Space", the stage that provides performances)

" Action ": Exist to satisfy the human condition of "diversity". (It can correspond to "Recognition of the opposite sex", that is, everyone will perform together on the stage)

And the reason why Erlan talks about the "human condition" is because "man is a limited creature, and man must always survive under certain conditions" (p. 120). Therefore, by identifying these conditions, he finally achieves an understanding of how man "acts". ” and contribute to this thing about real politics.

However, this echoes the previous article, although Elan constantly mentions "individual" or "showing the opposite sex", but in fact he always inherits the concept of "public" over "private" in the past Aristotle era , or in other words, only when the public exists can the private also exist.

Thus, the author mentions that in Elan's "Conditions of Man", "there will be passages where 'action' is placed above 'manufacturing' and 'labor'" (p. 121)

In addition, the author also mentioned-

In the trichotomy of "labor", "manufacturing" and "action", Erlan, as a "laboring animal", is caught in the repetition of an infinite physiological cycle, and his redemption is the permanence of the things brought about by "manufacturing" against the world. ; In order to get rid of the endless causal considerations of utilitarianism, the "maker"'s salvation is the innovation of "action"; and the salvation of "action" is only "action" itself. (p. 148)

It is clear from the above paragraph that the three activities are hierarchical. In particular, "action" is higher than "labor" and "manufacturing".

🌸 What is "labor"? (Organized from pp. 121-125)

 Highlights:
=> "labor" is to satisfy "human biological physiology" (private domain)
=> Labor is the least "cosmopolitan" and most "natural" human activity => Labor is overrated (Locke, Adam Smith, Marx)
People shouldn't see themselves as "labor animals"

For Elan, "labor" corresponds to "human biological life" and in order to maintain the body/life, people fall into "satisfaction-deficiency-restart-satisfaction-deficiency-restart..." cycle.

And such a cycle does not lead to some kind of "result" or "finished product", it is an infinite "cyclical movement" or "endlessly repetition" and its "production" and "product" consumption" is almost simultaneously.

In Olan's view, labor is the least "worldly" and the most "natural" human activity. ("Universal" refers to the part that creates the public sphere, but in order to maintain the continuation of the body/life, and this matter belongs to the "private sphere", labor is said to be "least cosmopolitan". Conversely, maintaining the body / The survival of life is the nature of all animals, so labor is said to have "the highest naturalness".)

In human development, however, labor was once the highest ability due to the concepts of "private property" (from Locke) and "wealth" (from Adam Smith). And even later Marx regarded people as "a laboring being", which not only made the activity of "labor" excessively promoted, but even——

"All human activities are equalized as a 'making a living' or leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessaries of life". (Book p. 124, " The Human Condition”, pp. 126-127)

However, Elan believes that the essence of human beings lies in "freedom", that is, self-expression in the public domain, so Elan believes that——

Revolution is the liberation of the entire human race from "labor" and "natural necessity". (Book p. 124, “The Human Condition”, p. 130.)

Once man views himself from the perspective of a "labor animal", it is less likely that there will be a public sphere in the true sense, but only "private activities displayed in the open." (p. 125 of this book). , "The Human Condition", p. 134.)

Therefore, Elan reminded that all activities to protect people's "physical life" are still from the perspective of people being "labor animals", but this should not be the main goal of human development.

🌸 What is "manufacturing"? (Organized from pp. 125-131)

 Highlights:
=> "Manufacturing" is the making of various "human artifices" and "objects for use"
=> The resulting world is "sustainable" and thus "stabilizes human life"
=> Manufacturing activities are violent and destructive to nature => Manufacturing activities can provide manufacturers with a certain "self-satisfaction" and "self-determination"
Be careful not to imagine politics as "made"

Ellen believes that:

"Manufacturing" is the creation of various "human artifices" and "objects for use", and this artificial world created through "manufacturing" activities will remain after death and is "sustainable" Thus "stabilizing human life". (Book p. 126, “The Human Condition”, pp. 136 - 137.)

However, since the activity of “manufacturing” is a constant process of reification of the environment and creating things through this activity is essentially “ utilitarian ” or “ utilitarian ”.

In contrast to the “labor” to satisfy the physical life, the activity of “manufacturing” “stands against nature” because “work necessarily involves some kind of “violation” and “violence” against nature. It is far from inevitable that the maker will become "a destroyer of nature." (p.127 of this book, "The Human Condition", p.139)

But through the transformation of nature, the "manufacturing" activity can provide the maker with a certain "self-satisfaction" and "self-determination". This feeling of "mastery" and "controllable" is the biggest difference between "manufacturing" and "labor" and "action".

Not only that, the "making" activity expresses/emphasizes not who "she/he" is, but what she/he has and can do. That is, from the emphasis on people to the emphasis on things.

Therefore, in Olan's point of view, she believes that " imagining politics in terms of 'manufacturing' is the most dangerous. " Why? because--

(1) The greatest danger of conceiving politics in terms of manufacturing logic is to bring "violence" to the center of politics. (Corresponding to the fact that the maker inevitably becomes the destroyer of nature.)

(2) The maker cannot distinguish between "usefulness" and "meaningfulness", and neither cause and effect nor the purpose of means can lead to any "value", so the maker world contains a danger of "loss of meaning". (“The Human Condition,” p. 154)

[Original p. 154]

The perplexity of utilitarianism is that it gets caught in the unending chain of means and ends without ever arriving at some principle which could justify the category of means and ends, that is, of utility itself. The “in order to” has become the content of the “for the sake of”; in other words, utility established as meaning generates meaninglessness.

So, Olan pointed out, people need "action" .

2. Action is a miracle

After understanding the "labor" activities for satisfying "physical life itself" and the "manufacturing" activities for satisfying the construction of "world", the next step is "action" that Elan has always emphasized.

So the first question is -

🌸 What is "action"? (Organized from pp. 135-140)

 Highlights:
=> "Action" is a form of words and deeds to express oneself => Actions bring new beginnings => Actions must be manifested in the form of "miracles" => Actions are a kind of "words and deeds", and actions with words are actions => Include the spirit of "winning" in action (not competition)
=> It is possible to achieve a state of "pure politics" through action

The author writes in this chapter: "Simply put, an action is an expression of one's self that brings something 'new beginning' into the world, . . . [is] the manifestation of the highest human faculties. "

In the broadest sense, action can be said to be a kind of "go to start, try it out" or "make something move", so action is equivalent to "doing".

[Original p. 177]

To act, in its most general sense, means to take an initiative, to begin (as the Greek word archein, “to begin”, “to lead” and eventually “to rule,” indicates), to something into motion (which is the original meaning of the Latin agere).

The essence of "do" contains the meaning of "break", "breakthrough" and " new beginning ".

By its very nature, "action can always come into the world with a certainty that transcends the laws of statistic and probability, that transcends daily practice, that is, action must manifest itself in the form of a 'miracle'. " That is, because action produces "New Beginning", which cannot be counted or determined because of "New Beginning", so Erlan considered it a "miracle".

And how should people act and become "doers" because of their actions?

Elan believes that " action is to use words and deeds to carry out a dynamic development of "uncovering" oneself, allowing others to "see" and "hear" oneself under the "visibility" of the public sphere. " Therefore, the action of words is for " Show the actors."

It is worth noting here that Erlan believes that "action" is a kind of "word and deed " after all, so she believes that "action without words no longer counts as action, so there is no longer an actor. An actor, so-called a certain action Practitioner of , only possible if he is also a speaker."

And the author mentions that what dominates "the (ideal) political action in Elan's mind" is a strong spirit of "competition to win", because politics in Elan's mind is the hope that "individuals seek excellence among others and show outstanding words and deeds. ". However, don't misunderstand that this kind of "winning" is competition. This kind of "winning" is actually "showing the individual", and it is not for the purpose of gaining any material or power.

Thus, in The Human Condition, Oran concludes, "In acting and speaking, people reveal who they are, actively revealing their unique personal identity, thereby manifesting in this human world." And This form is what Lan defines as "pure politics" ("The Human Condition", p. 179)

🌸 Common dangers of "action" (pp. 140-142)

 Highlights:
=> Treat "products" produced by manufacturing activities as being more important than "people" => Mistake "manufacturing" activities as "action" activities

In the activity of "action", although it is shown that one can achieve "pure politics" as self-expression, it still has two common dangers, both of which arise from not properly identifying the real "action" activity, namely:

(1) Treat the “products” produced by manufacturing activities as being more important than “people”

The author mentions that the assumption of human beings as "workers" rather than "actors" mistakenly assumes that "what a man makes is far more important than...who he is", which often makes "self-expression" unproductive uselessness” and thus the activity of “action” is obliterated.

(2) Mistaking "manufacturing" activities as "action" activities

The author mentions that some activities that appear to be "actions" at first glance actually treat people as products (such as "building a new human/generation"), so people misunderstand the meaning of actions and think they are doing something Action, in fact, is still doing "manufacturing" activities

Therefore, as mentioned before, the activity of "action" is a miracle, and it is easily misunderstood and thus vulnerable. So how to remedy it?

🌸 "Action" Vulnerability and Remedy (pp. 142- 150)

 Highlights:
=> Action fragility and the frustration of the three dimensions it contains - unpredictability of outcome, irreversibility of evolution, anonymity of author => Before action - inexhaustibility of human connectedness (also imagine As the background of the action, because people are connected to each other, so just one action will produce the above-mentioned three-sided setbacks)
=> Any action, will produce "do" and "suffer"
=> Political Virtues for Action: "Courage" and "Temperance"
Redemption by Action: "Commitment" and "Forgiveness"

The uniqueness and fragility of political action, in the eyes of Erlan, are setbacks in three aspects:

(1) the unpredictability of its outcome

(2) The irreversibility of the process of [action] evolution

(3) [action] Anonymity of its authors

In addition to the three-dimensional setbacks, actions are often conveyed through the "boundless of human interrelatedness," that is, "actions must fall within or within an 'already existing' human being. It happens in the 'web' of relationships." And in this web, the frustrations of (1) and (2) above occur (that is, unpredictable and irreversible chemical reactions between people)

In addition, action also contains both positive and negative connotations, and it is borne by people. This is reflected in-

If we are "actors" ( actors , not the author ) in the positive sense of action, we must also be "sufferers" of negative dissent, meaning that we cannot "own" or fully We are only the "doers" of the life story or the "author of its eventual outcome" ("The Human Condition", p. .185)

That is, when we "act", in addition to revealing ourselves, we also risk the consequences of suffering, so while action is unique, it is also dangerous and vulnerable.

**

Therefore, Elan pointed out that people need " courage " and this is an important "political virtue".

Why do we need "courage"? The author quotes Erlan as saying -

… The first thing anyone who enters politics needs is a willingness to risk their own life, and a love of one’s life too much hinders freedom and is a sign of slavery. Courage thus becomes the most representative political virtue. (“The Human Condition,” p. 36.)

The author concludes:

The mentality of the actor is that he is willing to accept the danger of being open to others, allowing the "meaning" and "consequences" of his actions to enter a human world network that the actor cannot control and predict. The "unpredictability" and "unpredictability" of actions Reversibility" makes action have an inherent "fragility".

Therefore, in fact, " people need great courage to be willing to enter the public sphere and bear the unpredictable consequences of their actions ."

However, when people took courage to step into the public sphere, Elan pointed out: "action will 'forcibly open all restrictions and destroy all existing frontier boundaries'." Therefore, in addition to "brave", Elan Lan pointed out that people also need " moderation " (moderation), to have the awareness that "actions may cause unanticipated harm and impact on others".

**

However, even with the " political virtues " required for action - " courage " and " temperance ", "action" needs to be redeemed (as mentioned above, the redemption of "labor" is through "manufacturing", while The redemption of "manufacturing" is through "action", and the redemption of "action" is only "action" itself) Therefore, facing this problem, Erlan pointed out that " forgiveness " and " commitment " can surpass the "unexpectedness" of "action" sex” and “irreversibility”.

As far as Elan is concerned " only actions based on forgiveness are free ", or more specifically:

Only when [people] are continually liberated from what they do, and only when people are willing to change their mindset and start over again, can people be empowered with the great power to break new ground. ” (“The Human Condition”, p. 240)

The reason why " promise " is important is to make a covenant through a promise, and to face the previously mentioned unpredictability. The reason for unpredictability is because:

(1) The heart is dark.

(2) Freedom of action.

Among them, (2) contains the implication that people have to pay the price of unpredictability because they have the conditions of "freedom" and "diversity". However, the "commitment" here, in the context of Erlan's thinking, "cannot" be used to plan the future as a whole, or become a set of pre-determined procedures for designing various kinds of pre-determined procedures, let alone this kind of "promises". Commitment" is linked to Hobbes' "Social Contract Theory". For either planning for the future through promises, or the most coercive force of promise/consent to enforce contracts, impedes liberty.

So the commitment here is just a response to "unpredictability," but it shouldn't stretch too far.

3. Summary

In this article, we first sort out that "action", "manufacturing" and "labor" mentioned by Elan are the three most important activities of human beings. And then to discern what these three activities represent, and how one can thus truly achieve "action", the highest human activity, and produce "pure politics". However, when carrying out actions, Elan reminded him to pay attention to its hidden dangers, and to transcend the difficulties inherent in actions through "political virtues—courage and restraint" and "forgiveness and commitment".

In the next chapter, freedom will be explored through the true "politics" of action, and ultimately, "the banality of evil".

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