Arendtian Ecology: Rethinking the Human Condition in the Age of Consumerism and Totalitarianism

To what extent can we speak of an Arendtian ecology? Building on a growing body of scholarship on Arendt and ecology, this article examines Hannah Arendt’s theory of technology to explore its implications for the possibility of an ecology of modern capitalism and its innovations. We argue that Arendt’s thought allows us to conceive of an ecology not as a relationship between humans and nature, but as a relationship between humans and their terrestrial condition. This study analyzes Arendt’s approach to the notion of the human condition to demonstrate how her reflection can contribute to an ethical and political ecology, a framework that, in our view, is lacking among many of her interpreters, who often mistakenly reduce her thought to a critique of totalitarian ecology. As her reflection on deserts illustrates, Arendt’s philosophy provides a compelling framework for understanding the intertwined ecological and political crises of our time.