In The Life of the Mind, she described the importance of what she called “two-in-one” conversation – the inner dialogue we have when we think. [ Stop to think, and think to be happy: Hannah Arendt’s credo for lifeOpens in new window ]This time of year throws many of us abruptly into solitude. If you want to think, Arendt suggests, this is good. For her, solitude is a set of conditions that makes thinking possible by facilitating our internal dialogue. Loneliness, on the other hand, is the distress that oozes forth when we are alone but can’t sustain this inner dialogue.

Source: The Irish Times December 28, 2025 08:45 UTC