only the unpredictable cooperation of others can do that, and
some evils are beyond forgiveness. Furthermore, this way of
breaking the chain of consequences set off by action works only
for human consequences; there is no remedy through forgiveness
for the "action into nature" that sets off nuclear reaction or
causes the extinction of species.
Another way of coping with the unpredictable consequences
of plural initiatives is the human capacity to make and keep
promises. Promises made to oneself have no reliability, but when
plural persons come together to bind themselves for the future,
the covenants they create among themselves can throw "islands
of predictability" into the "ocean of uncertainty," creating a new
kind of assurance and enabling them to exercise power collec-
tively. Contracts, treaties, and constitutions are all of this kind;
they may be enormously strong and reliable, like the U.S. Con-
stitution, or (like Hitler's Munich agreement) they may be not
worth the paper they are written on. In other words they are
utterly contingent, quite unlike the hypothetical agreements
reached in philosophers' imaginations.
Arendt is well known for her celebration of action, particularly
for the passages where she talks about the immortal fame earned
by Athenian citizens when they engaged with their peers in the
public realm. But The Hum,an Condition is just as much concerned
with action's dangers, and with the myriad processes set off by
human initiative and now raging out of control. She reminds us,
of course, that we are not helpless animals: we can engage in
further action, take initiatives to interrupt such processes, and
try to bring them under control through agreements. But apart
from the physical difficulties of gaining control over processes
thoughtlessly set off by action into nature, she also reminds us of
the political problems caused by plurality itself. In principle, if
we can all agree to work together we can exercise great power;
but agreement between plural persons is hard to achieve, and
never safe from the disruptive initiatives of further actors.
As we stand at the threshold of a new millennium, the one
safe prediction we can make is that, despite the continuation of
processes already in motion, the open future will become an
arena for countless human initiatives that are beyond our present