Arendt’s Prologue to The Human Condition begins with a reflection on the successful launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik into space in 1957. In the words of a reporter, this event signals “the first step toward escape from men’s imprisonment on earth” (1). For Arendt, this formulation suggests a fundamental change in the human condition, which she argues has always been tied to the earth (2). Sputnik is thus a harbinger of so-called “future man,” defined by “a rebellion against human existence as it has been given, a free gift from nowhere […] which he wishes to exchange […] for something he has made himself” (2-3). This transcendence of the natural human condition for a new, self-made condition, fashioned through science and technology, constitutes the background context in which Arendt writes.

However, as she goes on, Arendt writes that her focus in The Human Condition will be on the traditional, still unsurpassed parameters of human existence. For Arendt, this is defined by three essential functions that comprise our active life (vita activa): labor, work, and action (5). The higher operation of human thought or rationality (i.e., vita contemplativa) will be left out of her discussion.