Arendt, Eichmann and the banality of evil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/arbor.2010.742n1108Keywords:
Totalitarianism, Banality of evil, Holocaust, EichmannAbstract
In this text I describe the characteristics that Hannah Arendt attributes to the SS agents through the figure of Eichmann, during the German Nazi regime of the 20th century. According to this characterization, I intend to show, on the one hand, that there is not a break in Arendt’s thought on evil, i.e. from The Origins of Totalitarianism to Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil, but a continuous line of thought. And, on the other hand, I try to follow the clues that Arendt gives concerning the “banality” that defines the behavior of individuals such as Eichmann. Both premises will permit me to point out what, in my understanding, the banalization of humanity implies, not only in the context of the Jewish Holocaust, but in each of the societies in which the elimination of spontaneity is a reality.
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References
Arendt, H. (1984): La vida del espíritu, Madrid, C.E.C.
Arendt, H. (1987): Los orígenes del totalitarismo, 3 volúmenes, Madrid, Alianza.
Arendt, H. (2000): Eichmann en Jerusalén, un estudio sobre la banalidad del mal, Barcelona, Lumen.
Arendt, H. (2004): Una revisión de la historia judía y otros ensayos, Barcelona, Paidós.
Arendt, H. (2005): Ensayos de comprensión (1930-1954), Madrid, Caparrós.
Arendt, H./McCarthy, M. (1998), Entre amigas. Correspondencia entre Hannah Arendt y Mary MacCarthy, Barcelona, Lumen.
Wahnón, S. (2002): “Arendt frente a Eichmann”, en R. Mate (ed.): La filosofía después del Holocausto, Barcelona, Riopiedras, 360-364.
Young-Bruhel, E. (1983): Hannah Arendt, Valencia, Editions Alfons El Magnanim.
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