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"Trust, Hope, and Love for the World: Thinking through Arendt's 'The Human Condition'"

Publish: March 28, 2024

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  • Daichi Hayashi

    Other : Part-time Lecturer at National Institute of Technology, Maizuru College; Doctoral Programs at the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University

    ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni

    Daichi Hayashi

    Other : Part-time Lecturer at National Institute of Technology, Maizuru College; Doctoral Programs at the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University

    ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni

"I'd like to turn that master's thesis into a book"¡ªit all began with my supervisor's quiet murmur.

This book aims to interpret Hannah Arendt's major work, "The Human Condition," with the concept of the "world" as its central axis. The themes are "birth" and "death," as well as "natality" and "immortality." The book was completed by adding revisions and additions to my master's thesis. What was the message Arendt tried to convey to us through "The Human Condition"? This was the question I had been constantly pondering.

When I was writing my master's thesis, I never imagined it would become a book. However, from the moment my supervisor introduced me to an editor, things began to move. If I told my self from a year ago, I probably wouldn't believe it.

What I valued in creating this book was writing a text that serves as a declaration of "this is how I, as a person, read Arendt." In other words, I wanted to make it a piece of Arendt research where my own existence is visible. Certainly, putting "myself" at the forefront might be a taboo in research. Nevertheless, I wanted to make it a book where I could instill something like a testament to how I have lived my life, even if in a subtle way.

I was influenced by the words of Hideo Kobayashi in "The Construction of Man": "They write theories, they write knowledge, but scholars who write about how they, as human beings, are navigating through life are truly, truly rare." Or the words Kenzaburo Oe wrote in "Literary Notes": "A writer wants to communicate to others what it means for them to exist in this world."

That is why I was truly happy when the editor responded to my timid notification that the word count had increased significantly due to revisions by saying, "Don't worry about the word count; for now, please write to your heart's content." It felt as if my style of putting "myself" at the forefront had been affirmed.

I am still encouraged by those words today.

Daichi Hayashi

Misuzu Shobo

424 pages, 4,180 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.

Writing Notes