The Philosophies Of Hannah Arendt - 1339 Words

The Philosophies of Hannah Arendt in the Past and the Present â€Å"There are no dangerous thoughts, thinking itself is dangerous† (Berkowitz et al. 2014), states Arendt. Arendt who lived through the atrocities of the 20th century (i.e. the Holocaust), placed the focus of her arguments and beliefs on the matter. Her arguments focus on of the banality of evil and how it is purely comprised of human action and arguably human inaction. Ultimately she contends that mass society is to be blamed and not a single individual, for any evils which are brought into existence. She believed that the most important cure to relieve the suffering brought by these evil actions and policies, was the art of thinking. She insisted that the greatest evils†¦show more content†¦The policies in which are created and reinforced by these social institutions, contribute to the dehumanization, exclusion, and superfluity of human beings. Hayden (2010) suggests that dehumanization is much worse th an genocide. In other words, forcing a human being to live as anything but such, makes it seem like they are â€Å"already dead† (Hayden 2010: 456). Moreover, Hayden (2010) states that though murder may destroy a life, â€Å"superfluity destroys reality, the fact of existence itself† (456). Superfluity is defined as unnecessary or redundant (Oxford 2017); thus, by human beings being rendered superfluous, they lose their humanity. They are excluded and deprived of their human rights (Hayden 2010). This is evident in global poverty where billions of individuals suffer impoverished conditions because they are unable to assimilate and contribute to the culture of consumption (Hayden 2010: 457). Poverty then leads to individuals being unable to make contributions and participate in building the â€Å"common world† that Arendt saw as an escape from totalitarianism (Hayden 2010: 464). Additionally, Hayden (2010) argues that individuals who fail to question and challeng e structural policies are to be blamed for the preservation of these policies and the evils they create. On the other hand, the interviewees in the audio centralize their discussion on the philosophies of Arendt; where, she saw thinking as the mostShow MoreRelatedThe Human Condition By Hannah Arendt919 Words   |  4 PagesHannah Arendt’s most influential work The Human Condition was published in 1958. It makes distinctions between labor, work and action, between power, violence and strength and between property and wealth. It is surprising that more than 55 years later the originality and novelty of this book is still present. Arendt compels the reader to open their eyes and to look at the world and human affairs in new ways and with a completely different perspective. In her prologue she professes that she wantsRead MoreThe Psychoanalysts of Violence Essay1208 Words   |  5 PagesThe film â€Å"Battle for Algiers† can be analyzed thoroughly through Frantz Fanonâ⠂¬â„¢s and Hannah Arendt’s polar opposite theories on violence. The implication of both theories is represented in the film that has captured the understanding of both insightful phenomena. Fanon’s views on violence are it unifies individuals into forming a complex unit organism that works together, rinses, in addition it is presented as an effective and productive mean that support the process of decolonization. In contractRead MoreEssay on Eichmann in Jerusalem641 Words   |  3 PagesEichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil In her book, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt uses the life and trial of Adolf Eichmann to explore mans responsibility for evils committed under orders or as a result of the law. Due to the fact that she believed that Eichmann was neither anti-Semitic, nor a psychopath, Arendt was widely criticized for treating Eichmann too sympathetically. Still, her work on the Eichmann trial is among the most respected works on the issue to dateRead MoreHannah Arendt on the Banality of Evil1769 Words   |  8 PagesHannah Arendt is a German Jewish philosopher, born in 1906 and died in 1975. She studied philosophy with Martin Heidegger as Professor. Her works deal with the nature of power and political subjects such as democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. She flew away to France in 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor in Germany. She flew away from Europe to the United States after escaping from the concentration camp of Gurs. She became a Professor in New York city, in which sh e became an activeRead MoreHannah Arendts Theory The Banal Evil1492 Words   |  6 Pagesresponsibility and contributing to the rise in obesity is wrong. Hannah Arendt founded the theory â€Å"The banality evil’ through analyzing Adolf Eichmann’s case during the time of the Holocaust. Eichmann and Henderson share similarities of both being ordinary men who influenced large scale harm. The intent of this essay will be to compare and contrast the perception of evil and discuss at which point radical evil may be mistaken for banal evil. Hannah Arendt discovered a concept known as â€Å"The banality of Evil†Read MoreHannah Arendt Totalitarianism Analysis1474 Words   |  6 PagesThe purpose of this paper is to explore Hannah Arendt’s concept of Totalitarianism. Arendt’s concept is one that has formed many opinions from several experts. With that being said, many experts have taken out the time to find the flaws in the way that Ardent discussed totalitarianism. Her book, â€Å"The Origins of Totalitarianism† was flawed for various reasons. 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The first will be concerned with critically engaging poststructuralist and postmodernist rejections of humanism highlighted by Stuart Sim, with notions of a humanism put forward by Timothy Brannan that place importance on the shared universal attributes shared by every human. I will to this with the aim of placing Arendt’s humanism with the latter. For the second half of thisRead MoreThe Problem of Evil in Philosophy1684 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿The Problem of Evil in Philosophy What is the classic problem of evil in the Western philosophical/theological tradition (the trilemma)? The  problem of evil  is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil with that of a deity who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. The trilemma was stated by the Greek philosopher Epicurus during antiquity and was restated during the modern period by David Hume. Epicurus poses a trilemma in order to refute the notion of an omnipotent andRead MoreAn Analysis of Power and Violence in Literature Essay1322 Words   |  6 Pagesexample, we find the food chain. Humankind exerts their power through violence and power in a similar way, creating a hierarchy of power. Although not all violence is physical, it is still used to obtain control of another person or situation. Hannah Arendt writes in her book ‘On Violence’ â€Å"In the same vein he regarded the state as an instrument of violence in the command of the ruling class; but the actual power of the ruling class did not consist of or rely on violence† (11). When you sit down and