Arendt Labor Theory Research

Hannah Arendt（1906－1975）is one of the most original and influential politicalthinkers of the twentieth century and one of the most profound and detailed modernphilosophers on labor. The issue of labor has been paid much attention to by politics,Sociology, Economics and Management, but it has got few responses and reflectsfrom Philosophy, especially from non-Marxism Schools. Arendt’s theory of labor isexpert in thoughts and Philosophy, and includes lateral structure and longitudinalveins. Furthermore, her theory of labor is a kind of deep dialogue with Marx. Thestudy on Arendt’s theory of labor will help deepen the realistic thinking andtheoretical exploration and build a bridge between Marxism and non-Marxism.Arendt’s concept of labor is defined and explained in a theoretical space which issupported by three groups of concepts--labor/work/action, public realm/private realm,property/wealth. In this space, labor is the lowest level of activity and limited in theprivate realm. However, the persons who owe wealth push others labor for them andare entitled to enter into the public realm to act freely. In order to strip the distortionsand covers on experiences by traditional theories and then clear the road to discuss theissue of labor, Arendt explain the categories and characters of labor by a method ofcombination between Etymology and Phenomenology. Productive labor/unproductivelabor, skilled work/unskilled work, manual labor/intellectual labor are three importantdistinguishment and the first one is most important to modernity. Life is the axis oflabor’s characters: the internal connection between labor and life; the fertility of laborsimilar to life’s; labor as the sources of vitality and joy. Moreover, Arendt’s theory oflabor is unfolded in two longitudinal directions: Arendt analyses the politicalphenomenon that labor broke into the public realm in modern society and wasinvolved in the storm of modern revolutions. In addition, Arendt’s theory of laborcomments and analyses the evolution from the traditional conception of labor to themodern one, and explain the rise of labor in modern in theory.