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Sarah Gibbs

Professor Alexander Izrailevsky

Philosophy 1000

24 November 2017

The Political Philosophy and Controversy of Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt was a prominent political philosopher and one of, if not the, most

respected woman in her field during her lifetime. Her most recognizable works span from The

Origins of Totalitarianism, to The Human Condition, and she is often most recognized for

journalistically covering the trial of the Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, in Israel during the

1960s. Although sometimes a controversial figure, the political philosophy of Arendt is still

widely influential in current studies of political systems and the nature of war, and understanding

her more divisive works is crucial to understanding her as a scholar and philosopher.

Born in Hanover Germany in 1906, Hannah Arendt was the only child of Jewish parents.

As a young woman, Arendt studied classical literature and Christian theology at the University

of Berlin. Eventually she was accepted at Marburg University where she studied under the

renowned philosopher Martin Heidegger. Arendt and Heidegger began a romantic relationship

that she ended a year later, and she subsequently moved to the German city of Heidelberg to

study with her former lovers friend, Karl Jaspers.

Under the guide of Jaspers, she published her dissertation titled Der Liebesbegriff bei

Augustin. Shortly after, she became involved with Gunther Stern, a Jewish philosopher like

herself. Eventually the two were married for nine years until Arendt became involved with

Heinrich Blucher. She divorced Stern in 1939 and married Blucher only a year later. Although a
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private couple, insight into their relationship may be found in a foot note from The Human

Condition, published in 1958 and quoted below;

The common prejudice that love is as common as "romance" may be due to the fact that
we all learned about it first through poetry. But the poets fool us; they are the only ones
to whom love is not only a crucial, but an indispensable experience, which entitles them
to mistake it for a universal one. (Pg. 242)

Blucher was, after all, not only a philosopher like herself, but also a poet. His influence and

support can be understood not only from The Human Condition, but many of her later works as

well.

The two were married until Bluchers death in 1970. In the last years of her life, Arendt

continued to write, teach and lecture in regard to her philosophy. One of her last works was

intended to be in three volumes, Titled The Life and Mind, but she died just after starting the

final volume in 1975. The first two parts, as well as a number of other works were published

posthumously, and made her a significant contributor to the subject of political philosophy for

years after her death.

Regardless of her esteem as a philosopher, scholar, and expert, many of her ideas and

works are deemed as controversial. One of the most notable of these works is her study of the

trial of A Nazi war criminal, titled Eichmann in Jerusalem. Although later in her life, Arendts

journey to Israel to witness and report on this monumental event is considered one of the most

pivotal points in her career, and drew on not only her past studies of Nazi Germany, but also on

her experiences as a German born Jewish woman who lived and witnessed the atrocities of

World War II.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum cites Adolf Eichmann as One of the

most pivotal actors in the deportation of European Jewry during the Holocaust. Eichmann was

German born, and after failing to complete schooling to become a Mechanical engineer, he spent
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his early life without a steady job, instead moving through different temporary day labor

positions. He eventually joined the Nazi affiliated Austrian Legion and completed military

training.

Working his way up through the ranks of the Nazi party, he spent the years before World

War II leading the efforts of mass emigration and deportation of the Jewish people of Germany

as well as surrounding countries. Once the war had begun, Eichmanns deportation efforts

continued, and he was eventually responsible for the transportation of Jewish people from

multiple European countries to death camps and killing centers.

After the War ended, Eichmann was taken into custody by US officials until he escaped

in 1946, and used aid from the Catholic church to flee to Argentina. It wasnt until 1960 that he

was located by agents of Mossad, whom captured him and brought him to Israel to stand trial for

his crimes against the Jewish people. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) This is the

critical point where Hannah Arendt makes her appearance in his story, and, being a Jewish

woman, her connection to the trial was a personal one.

Before fleeing to the United States with her husband in 1941, Arendt spent time in an

infamous French detention camp, barely escaping deportation. Beyond this experience, her view

of the Holocaust was one of great distance in New York, separated by the Atlantic Ocean.

Because of this, Arendt was eager to cover the 1961 trial for The New Yorker, and she was flown

to Jerusalem to witness the proceedings. Her thoughts, conclusions, and reportings of the trial

were published in the February 1963 edition of The New Yorker and was released later that year

as a book titled Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the Banality of Evil, garnering both

controversy and praise.

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In her writings, Arendt muses that the crimes committed by Eichmann were the result of

neither antisemitism nor sadism, but rather that Eichmann was a man whom would carry out

orders simply for the sake of obedience and bureaucratic advancement, all of this done without

thought of the consequences to those whom he acted against. Effectively, she coins the term

banality of evil as the lack of deep and original thought rather than an unexplainable and innate

force of malevolence. These thoughts are summarized in an introduction to the book, titled The

Excommunication of Hannah Arendt, written by Amos Elon;

Evil comes from a failure to think. It defies thought for as soon as thought tries to
engage itself with evil and examine the premises and principles from which it originates,
it is frustrated because it finds nothing there. That is the banality of evil. (Elon, 2006)

These writings are deemed controversial for the way Arendt appears to minimize the

scope of the atrocities committed by the Nazis during the war by reducing them to a lack of

intelligence. This was understandably not a well-received idea by a public who witnessed the

war unfold before their eyes. Arendts comments on the way the Jewish people handled the

proceedings were also seen as the internalized shame of a Jewish woman, resulting in

accusations of victim blaming.

The conclusions regarding Arendts report could be construed as a misunderstanding of

her tone and intention. In an article contemplating The Trial of Adolf Eichmann 50 years after its

publication, Adam Kirsch states the banality of evil is at bottom a way of denying Nazism

any glamour or substance, of relegating it to the realm of nonbeing. (Kirsch, Galchen 2013)

This suggests the idea that Arendts conclusions and statements regarding Eichmann were her

way of reducing the glorification of the Nazi party. It is undeniable that even though these men

are seen as a deplorable part of human history, there is an unintentional sense of grandeur given
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to the scope of damage that was achieved. Whether intentional or not, Arendts conclusions in

her own small way counteract this effect to those who have read her writings on the matter.

Another argument in favor of Eichmann in Jerusalem is that not only the intentions of her

conclusions, but also the scope and meaning have been misunderstood. Adding to the thoughts of

Kirsch in the same article, Rivka Galchen brings up the notion that disdain for these writings

come from the misinterpretation that Arendt is applying her train of thought not only to

Eichmann, but also to the Nazi party and the Holocaust as a whole. She states;

Arendt does not argue that the Holocaust and its unspeakable horrors are banal. She
does not endorse or believe Eichmanns presentation of himself as a man beset by the
tricky virtue of obedience. And she does not say that the evil she saw in Eichmann is the
only kind of evil. (Kirsch, Galchen 2013)

This argument implies that the dispute on her work is a result of the readers conclusions, and not

Arendts.

An additional subject of controversy that can be found in the works of Hannah Arendt is

that of her response to the integration of American schools, and more specifically the events at

Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 after nine African American students enrolled in a segregated high

school. This event resulted in political turmoil and unrest, and eventually became one of the

driving forces of the Civil Rights movement.

Arendt wrote an essay titled Reflections on Little Rock, but it was not published until a

year later due to its controversial content. In the essay, she argues that, while the African

American community is an obviously marginalized and disadvantaged one, forced integration of

schools is unconstitutional. While she cites many points, her most significant argument is against

the politicization of education.

She expresses her belief that the events at Little Rock were irresponsible, and unfair to

the children involved. In the essay, she reasons that;

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progressive education which, by abolishing the authority of adults, implicitly denies

their responsibility for the world in which they have born their children, and refuses the
duty of guiding them into it do we intend to have out political battles fought out in the
school yards? (Reflections on Little Rock, 1958)

The implication of this statement is that adults have the responsibility to create a world that is

better for their children, instead of relying on their children to create a better world. This

argument unfortunately ignores the widely agreed upon concept that a better world cannot be

achieved without the moral and ethical education of children. Although her sympathy for the

African American students involved and what they endured is commendable, her position is one

of inaction, which, if heeded, would have led to complacency in the youth who are now the

adults of America, who, by her own conclusions, would now be responsible for social change.

Even though she grew up as a Jewish woman in pre-Nazi Germany, and viewed the

atrocities against her people, it is necessary to point out that her life in America was one of

privilege compared to the vast majority African American people of the time her essay was

written. Therefore, it can be argued, that her objection to the integration of public schools is a

result of that privilege and a lack of understanding and thought towards a marginalized people.

It is undeniable that Hannah Arendt was a woman of great intellectual presence, and an

absolute authority on the subjects of politics and philosophy, however it is important to

understand the prejudices and misgivings surrounding her work in order to fully appreciate the

scope of her influence. While many of her works, including Eichmann in Jerusalem and

Reflections on Little Rock contain stances that are seen by many as controversial, these

writings are an important tool to glimpse into the life of a renowned woman who contributed

greatly to her field.

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Works Cited

Yar, Majid. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

www.iep.utm.edu/arendt/#H6.

Arendt, Hannah, and Margaret Canovan. The Human Condition. University of Chicago Press,
2012.

Adolf Eichmann. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007412.

Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem. Penguin, 2006.

Amos Elon. The Excommunication of Hannah Arendt. Eichmann in Jerusalem, Penguin, 2006.

Kirsch, Adam, and Rivka Galchen. Fifty Years Later, Why Does 'Eichmann in Jerusalem'
Remain Contentious? The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Nov. 2013,
www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/books/review/fifty-years-later-why-does-eichmann-in-
jerusalem-remain-contentious.html.

Burroughs, M. D. "Hannah Arendt, Reflections on Little Rock, and White Ignorance." Critical
Philosophy of Race, vol. 3 no. 1, 2015,