Chapter 12

Arendt contemplates the products of work, which are distinct from the products of labor. Work produces tangible goods that may be removed from their origins and used, sold, or otherwise harnessed for value outside their immediate context. This, she notes, has contributed to disparities in the public perception of laborers versus craftspeople, or the “animal laborans” versus the “homo faber.” Both outcomes, she reminds the reader, are distinct from acting and speaking, the intangible work of a person of action.

Chapter 13

Consumable things, the author contends, are the most necessary for life itself, and their consumption often keeps cyclical pace with their creation so nothing is left over. In this, labor mimics the life of an organism—first there is a birth, then a brief interval of life, and then death and decay. Marx, Arendt quotes, described this as “man’s metabolism with nature,” and labor and consumption are both inherently destructive processes that operate nearly in tandem.