I thought for today I would pull together some of Hannah Arendt’s comments about the banality of evil, a concept introduced by her book Eichmann in Jerusalem. The short version of the idea is that at the root of an evil person is nothing, an absence of the depth that can only exist as a result of serious and original thinking. Instead, what Arendt saw in her coverage of Eichmann's trial was a person entirely incapable, as she put it, 'to think from the standpoint of someone else'.
One consistent theme throughout this book was the contention that evil people and evil acts are two separate entities. She makes this point by noting how idiots are capable of committing evil acts, particularly if no higher religious, moral, or government authority exists to help them understand what they are actually doing. In the specific context of the actions examined in this book, Arendt points a finger at the conditions of the Third Reich as this sanctioning authority. A key point in this regard is the way such authorities emerge whenever obedience and support are essentially the same, an attribute that many will recognize as a defining factor wherever a strong political structure gives way to an evildoing regime.
Another thought Arendt explores is the premise of evil emerging from calculation. For her, evil has no depth and whatever lives at the source of an evil person is never a result of thinking. Those who study evildoers in an attempt to find its deepest premises, she suggests, will be disappointed when they find nothing beyond cliches. She makes sure to clarify that this thoughtlessness is different from stupidity and is in no way related to the crimes motivated by evil. These clarifications are critical because it suggests that anyone who puts their own mind to use moves away from evil. This point is perhaps at the root of her suggestion that although many comply when sufficiently terrified, some people do not, and it is in this small number that the human race ensures the planet remains fit for our occupation.
