think of themselves as an animal species, their ability to tran-
scend such limits was being dramatically revealed by scientific
inventions. For the counterpart of the "world-alienation" suf-
fered by laborers was "earth-alienation" among scientists. While
Archimedes had declared long ago that he would be able to move
the earth if he could find a place to stand, Arendt argues that
(from the time of Galileo to contemporary space engineers and
nuclear scientists) men have found ways of looking at the earth
from a cosmic perspective, and (exercising the human privilege
of making new beginnings) have challenged natural limits to the
point of threatening the future of life itself. According to her
diagnosis of the contemporary predicament, Promethean pow-
ers—releasing processes with unfathomable consequences—are
being exercised in a society of beings too absorbed in consump-
tion to take any responsibility for the human world or to under-
stand their political capacities. She observes in her prologue that
"thoughtlessness" (itself related to the loss of the common hu-
man world) is "among the outstanding characteristics of our
time," and her object in thinking aloud was surely to encourage
thought in others.
Ill
In so far as Arendt's purpose was to provoke thought and discus-
sion, she has been resoundingly successful. Like many of her
writings, The Human Condition has been the subject of intense
debate ever since its appearance. Indeed, few other works of
modern political theory have had such a mixed press, regarded
by some as a work of genius and by others as beneath refutation.
Many academics have taken exception to the book's unorthodox
style and manner. Paying no attention to mainstream debates,
Arendt sets out her own analysis without defining her terms or
engaging in conventional argumentation. Political controversies
have also raged about the book. Its treatment of the animal la-
borans and its analysis of social concerns made its author unpopu-
lar with many on the left, but her account of action brought a
message of hope and encouragement to other radicals, including
some in the Civil Rights movement and behind the Iron Curtain.
[ XV ]