The Human Condition

Chapter 24 begins Arendt’s analysis of action. She opens with an important clarification of the closely related notion of plurality. Plurality, she explains, is “the basic condition of both action and speech” (175) defined by the twofold character of equality and distinction. It is the fact that human beings are both radically similar to and different from one another that the need to communicate through speech and action arises. This not true of other animals and objects in the world, which is why Arendt claims that “no human being can refrain [from speech and action] and still be human” (176). This claim suggests that speech and action are the most important aspect of the vita activa for Arendt.

Arendt argues that speech and action reveal the “unique distinctness” of human beings, that is, the “who” behind words and deeds (176). Arendt links speech and action to the notions of initiative and beginning, which in turn connote natality. Speech and action are therefore akin to the birth of a completely new and unique human being, the appearing of somebody who was not there before. The resonance of these formulations with the Biblical notions of creation and revelation is quite explicit.