Una propuesta de articulación de labor, producción y acción en Hannah Arendt

In The Human Condition, Arendt distinguished amongst labor, work and action. The relationship between these activities is usually hierarchically interpreted, prioritising action because of its inherent humanity. Nevertheless, the triad is closer to interdependence and reciprocity. Human activities articulate complexly in the form of two dyads: work and action approach when the first refers to art; labor and work oppose themselves radically. Anyhow, it is not labor which is inferior or less human per se, it is animal laborans’ experience when dispossessed of its capacity to act. Resumen: En La condición humana, Arendt distinguía entre labor, producción y acción. La relación entre las tres actividades suele interpretarse jerárquicamente, priorizando acción por su inherente humanidad. Sin embargo, dicha tríada está más cerca de la interdependencia y la reciprocidad. La articulación entre las actividades es compleja y toma la forma de dos díadas: producción y acción se aproximan cuando la primera refiere al arte; labor y producción se oponen radicalmente. En cualquier caso, lo que es inferior o menos humano no es labor en sí, sino la experiencia del animal laborans desposeído de su capacidad de actuar. Abstract: In The Human Condition, Arendt distinguished amongst labor, work and action. The relationship between these activities is usually hierarchically interpreted, prioritising action because of its inherent humanity. Nevertheless, the triad is closer to interdependence and reciprocity. Human activities articulate complexly in the form of two dyads: work and action approach when the first refers to art; labor and work oppose themselves radically. Anyhow, it is not labor which is inferior or less human per se, it is animal laborans’ experience when dispossessed of its capacity to act.