| Summary: | In 1958 the German philosopher Hannah Arendt released The Human condition, a book in which she famously discusses the terms of life on earth. Amongst her many important contributions to the field of political thinking that this book contains, her understanding of the two concepts natality and plurality perhaps make up the most groundbreaking and influential ones. Natality, for Arendt, is what constitutes man’s capacity to begin. The new beginning which every newborn born into the human world inherently entails is closely related to the human condition of plurality. This essay aims at understanding how Arendts analysis of the human conditions of natality and plurality together shapes the collective life of humans. With comments from feminist philosopher Adriana Cavarero who proposes a critique of Arendt’s understanding of natality as being far too abstract, and political thinker Chantal Mouffe, who critiques Arendt for having an unrealistic understanding of the common world as devoid of antagonistic conflict. The essay also discusses the critique against modernity which Arendt forms against the background of her understanding of the modern era as a time where the human conditions are being neglected.
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