Arendt's 1958 work asks two fundamental questions: "Under what conditions do politics emerge?" and "Under what conditions can politics be eliminated?" In searching for answers, she turns some long-established thinking on its head. Ancient political philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle believed that a life spent thinking was more important than an active life of labor, work, and action. But, basing her theories on how human beings actually experience politics, Arendt argues that political action is every bit as important as political thinking. She also focuseson plurality—where different ideas and lifestyles can peacefully coexist—as one of the basic conditions of humanity.
