The Banality of Evil: Hannah Arendt and ‘The Final Solution

This book is the first to explore the political and philosophical consequences of Hannah Arendt’s concept of the banality of evil , a term she used to describe Adolph Eichmann, architect of the Nazi final solution . According to Bernard J. Bergen, the questions that preoccupied Arendt were the meaning and significance of the Nazi genocide to our modern times. As Bergen describes Arendt’s struggle to understand the banality of evil , he shows how Arendt redefined the meaning of our most treasured political concepts and principles - freedom, society, identity, truth, equality and reason - in light of the horrific events of the Holocaust. Arendt concluded that the banality of evil results from the failure of human beings to fully experience our common human characteristics - thought, will and judgement - and that the exercise and expression of these attributes is the only chance we have to prevent a recurrence of the kind of terrible evil perpetrated by the Nazis.