In the fourth episode of 'Human Conditions', Judith Butler and Adam Shatz turn to The Human Condition (1956). Hannah Arendt defines action as the highest form of human activity: distinct from work and labour, action includes collaborative expression, collective decision-making and, crucially, initiating change. Focusing on the chapter on action, Judith and Adam consider why this approach is so innovative and incisive and discuss Arendt’s continued relevance and shortcomings, the book’s many surprising and baffling turns, and the transformative power of forgiveness.
'Human Conditions' is part of the LRB's Close Readings podcast. To listen to the full series, and to all our other Close Readings series covering literature from Ancient Greece to the present day, sign up in:
Sample other episodes in 'Human Conditions'
Anti-Semite and Jew by Jean-Paul Sartre, with Judith Butler and Adam Shatz
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, with Judith Butler and Adam Shatz
Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon, with Judith Butler and Adam Shatz
A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul, with Pankaj Mishra and Adam Shatz
The Intimate Enemy by Ashis Nandy, with Pankaj Mishra and Adam Shatz
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, with Pankaj Mishra and Adam Shatz
Hope against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam, with Pankaj Mishra and Adam Shatz
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois,with Brent Hayes Edwards and Adam Shatz
Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire, with Brent Hayes Edwards and Adam Shatz
Black Music by Amiri Baraka, with Brent Hayes Edwards and Adam Shatz
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde, with Brent Hayes Edwards and Adam Shatz
To listen to the series in full, and all our other Close Readings series, sign up in:
About Close Readings
Close Readings is a multi-series podcast subscription from the London Review of Books exploring different periods of literature through selections of key works. Enjoy literary conversations like no other from Europe’s leading journal of culture and ideas.
RUNNING IN 2025:
- 'Conversations in Philosophy' with Jonathan Rée and James Wood
- 'Fiction and the Fantastic' with Marina Warner, Anna Della Subin, Adam Thirlwell and Chloe Aridjis
- 'Love and Death' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford
- 'Novel Approaches' with Clare Bucknell, Thomas Jones and other guests
ALSO INCLUDED IN YOUR CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION:
- 'Human Conditions' with Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards
- 'On Satire' with Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell
- 'Political Poems' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry
- 'Among the Ancients' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones
- 'Medieval Beginnings' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley
- 'The Long and Short' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry
- 'Modern-ish Poets: Series 1' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry
- 'Among the Ancients II' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones
- 'Medieval LOLs' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley
