Article The animal condition in the human condition: Rethinking Arendt’s political action beyond the human species Diego Rossello Department of Philosophy, Universidad Adolfo Iba´n˜ez, Santiago, Chile. diego.rossello@uai.cl Abstract This article puts Arendt’s conception of non-human animal appearance into a productive dialogue with recent developments in critical animal studies (CAS) and animal rights theory (ART) within which notions such as (dependent) agency, zoopolis, and animal agora play an important role. By reinterpreting the animal con- dition in Arendt’s account of the human condition, it demonstrates her potential con- tribution to political theory in a world where non-human-animals and nature are seen as making claims of entry into the political community. By emphasizing Arendt’s later work, in which she expresses an openness towards the possibility that non-human animals are drawn to appear (and not just for appetite satisfaction), the article indicates how Arendt might help us, both to rethink the boundaries of the political community beyond the human species, and to recognize the political agency of non-human animals. Contemporary Political Theory (2022) 21, 219–239. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296- 021-00495-9; advance online publication 8 June 2021 Keywords: Arendt; animal; the political; action; appearance The victory of animal laborans refers to the triumph of the values of labor over those of homo faber and of man as zoon politikon. Maurizio Passerin D’Entre`ves, The Political Philosophy of Hannah Arendt Animal laborans is one of Hannah Arendt’s timeless contributions to the vocabulary of political theory. Introduced in her 1958 book The Human Condition [HC], in the context of the tripartite account of the vita activa (labor, work and action), animal laborans describes a creature whose activities are confined to the satisfaction of the needs of life. Set in contrast with the artifact-making and history initiating capacities of work and action, labor exemplifies the unworldly, cyclical activities required to sustain mere life. As a critic of labor’s prominence in political modernity, Arendt argues that labor tends to invade the public sphere of politics, replacing the words and deeds of action with the repetitive labor of our bodies in Ó 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory Vol. 21, 2, 219–239 www.palgrave.com/journals