The Life Of The Mind

The title of this chapter translates to “sometimes I think and sometimes I am,” so the title addresses immediately a distinction between the thinking ego and Being. In her opening, Arendt tells the reader that if they are hoping for a conclusive statement about her questions, they will be disappointed. If thinking is an activity that is headed toward meaning rather than truth, then it follows that if she is asking questions about thinking itself, she will not arrive at an answer. However, Arendt explains, there is value in asking questions and circling them because there is meaning in the process of thinking.

She then offers statements that she discourages readers from taking as dogmatic. The first is that thinking always interrupts everyday life and order. The second is that there is an inherent contradiction in thinking that keeps it from being able to touch reality. The third is that thinking always removes itself from the apparent world and deals in negation. Therefore, the thinking ego is homeless. It is not in the world and does not exist in space.