Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Philosophy

Committee Chairperson

Dean Johnson

Committee Member

Cassie Striblen

Committee Member

Robert Main

Abstract

Hannah Arendt’s 1958 book The Human Condition describes modernity through the lens of the vita activa. While useful in understanding human experience with modernity, the way the world has advanced makes the vita activa insufficient for describing our present world. I argue that the world is now in a state of hypermodernity, and use the vita activa to describe how powerlessness develops in the face of large-scale hypermodern crisis. The concern of hypermodernity is that humans experience an inability to perform true action, and this results in powerlessness. Hypermodern powerlessness translates into an inability to meaningfully affect change in the world, and overcome crises.

With an emphasis on existentialism, hope, and intersectionality, I construct a toolkit for empowering hypermodern humans. This toolkit is focused on remedying the issues diagnosed by the vita activa as it exists in hypermodernity, chiefly a lack of authentic human identity. I conclude by arguing that a framework of intersectional existentialism is crucial to empowering meaningful action in hypermodern humans. Intersectional existentialism is capable of reinvigorating authentic human identity, and as a result, authentic action.

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