The Private and Public Realm

Introduction

Philosophy has played a great role in development of mankind in terms of the way it relates with others, the way it expresses ideas and goes deep to explore what knowledge and truth entail. Over the years many philosophers have been developing various essays with an objective of providing their views on what man's life entails. Hannah Arendt is one of the philosophers who have been trying to understand human life through many of her essays. In the essay "The public and the Private realm" her main objective is to give her account over the issue of consumerism and the consumerist society. In the "Human condition" she describes Sputnik as an example of what is evil and dangerous in the growing trends of modern society. The essay focuses on her work on "The public and private realm" and analyzes her views on the various issues that affect man's life.

Discussion

Arendt did provide a theoretical basis for reasons why public realm has faded as result of emergence of various forces of consumption as well as production. She distinguishes between public and private consumption on the grounds of ontological roots. Ontological root imply various activities that entail human life, especially those in line with conditions that are vital for human existence. These are the conditions that she views as very basic if one has to survive. The philosopher supports public realm, even though many mistake her as advocating private consumption. She supports public realm on the ground that this form of consumption provides the basic elements of survival for any human being. This kind of realm benefits all the members of the society in contradiction to private realm, where consumption only enhances the survival of individuals at the expense of other members of the society. Arendt also thinks that labor in respect to human beings is grounded within the various conditions of human life. The process of biology of life is the one that man is bound to and it compels one to submit as well as preoccupy our lives with species preservation. It is where the human body concentrates on making it survive at the expense of others. The human labor is a non-lasting, nor durable, thus it can be concluded that labor is one of those futile things in man's life. The cycle character of labor contributes to making the private aspect of life more uniform as well as the private realm, as a location of uniformity in addition to these as a location of conformity.

The private sphere of life provides the ground for one to work hard in order to survive in the long run. This makes one work hard with an aim of making his life successful and comfortable. The main disadvantage of private realm is that one can do all that within the reach in order to survive at the expense of others. These create a society where people do not care about others in whatever they do as long as their needs are satisfied.

According to Arendt, the ancient world is completely different from the modern world in terms of what is advocated by many in consumption. In the ancient world majority advocated for public realm but, in the modern world, private forces of production as well as consumption are mainly advocated.

The modern American society is more concerned with private consumption rather than public consumption. In most of the sectors of the economy individuals are making major contribution to the success of the economy. American society is operated under the ideology of capitalism which advocates individualism rather than communism. This ideology has made the advocates of private consumption successful in the modern American society. Private consumption is evident provider of many services such as education and health services. If you carry out a careful examination of today's American society you will realize that things have changed from public realm to private realm. This can be noted in the way people make their speeches, think and carry out their day to day activities. I see  the current American society as more of a private realm than public realm.

Conclusion

Basing on the essay of Arendt it is true that human conditions are based upon aspects of consumption of private and public realm. The world is truly moving from public consumption to private consumption where lots of funds are being directed into investments that make private realm more advanced. Private consumption/realm has brought so many evil things in the modern society where most people no longer care about the well-being of others as long as their well-being is catered. This has resulted in conflicts which in turned into civil wars and violence in the growing democracies. Public realm is more convenient in those societies where majority of the population are the poor people. Adoption of private realm in this society will result in leaving out some members of the society in provision of basic amenities. This will result in the gap between the rich and the poor widening.