Language:
English
Year of publication:
2011
Titel der Quelle:
Iyyun; the Jerusalem Philosophical Quarterly
Angaben zur Quelle:
60 (2011) 275-300
Keywords:
Arendt, Hannah,
;
Eichmann, Adolf,
;
War crime trials
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Good and evil Religious aspects
;
Judaism
;
Good and evil Philosophy
;
Jerusalem (Israel)
Abstract:
The unintended consequences of Hannah Arendt's depiction of Eichmann, in her book "Eichmann in Jerusalem" (1963), have been to reduce the moral consequence of evil actions. Her concept of the banality of evil has been taken to mean that evil generally speaking is a banal phenomenon. Examines Arendt's analysis of Eichmann in order to point out the groundlessness of her argument that evil can be treated as banal. States that banal evil is a fabrication invented by perpetrators, both to enable them to accept their misdeeds and to defend themselves against accusations. There is no need to invent an explanation for the evil of the Holocaust - the explanation is virulent antisemitism. There is no need to explain the seeming incomprehensibility of the existence of evil; one need only read the writings or the recorded statements of its perpetrators.
URL:
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