- Summary
- "The vast majority of studies of Hannah Arendt's thought are concerned with her as a political theorist. This book offers a contribution to rectifying this imbalance by providing a critical engagement with Arendtian ethics. Arendt asserts that the crimes of the Holocaust revealed a shift in ethics and the need for new responses to a new kind of evil. In this new treatment of her work, Arendt's best-known ethical concepts - the notion of the banality of evil and the link she posits between thoughtlessness and evil, both inspired by her study of Adolf Eichmann - are disassembled and appraised. The concept of the banality of evil captures something tangible about modern evil, yet requires further evaluation in order to assess its implications for understanding contemporary evil, and what it means for traditional, moral philosophical issues such as responsibility, blame and punishment. In addition, this account of Arendt's ethics reveals two strands of her thought not previously considered: her idea that the condition of `living with oneself' can represent a barrier to evil and her account of the `nonparticipants' who refused to be complicit in the crimes of the Nazi period and their defining moral features. This exploration draws out the most salient aspects of Hannah Arendt's ethics, provides a critical review of the more philosophically problematic elements, and places Arendt's work in this area in a broader moral philosophy context, examining the issues in moral philosophy which are raised in her work such as the relevance of intention for moral responsibility and of thinking for good moral conduct, and questions of character, integrity and moral incapacity"-- Source other than Library of Congress.
- Series
- Bloomsbury ethics, volume 6
Bloomsbury ethics series ; v. 6.
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Mahony, Deirdre Lauren, author.
- Published
- London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2018
©2018
- Contents
-
Introduction: Hannah Arendt and ethics after Auschwitz
Philosophy and politics
Ethics and politics
Arendt's ethics
Hannah Arendt and ethics after Auschwitz
1. Arendt, Eichmann and the Banality of Evil
Arendt on Eichmann
Eichmann controversy
Was Arendt wrong about Eichmann?
Banality: One form of evil
Intention and moral responsibility
Neiman on Arendt
Intention
Responsibility
Moral luck
Concluding remarks
2. Thinking and Evil
Arendt on thinking and morality
Thinking: A particular kind of process
Thinking as destructive
Thinking as dialogue
Conversation: A model for Arendt's notion of thinking?
Thinking, reality and the other
Moral relevance of thought
Is thinking a moralizing activity?
Does the thinking process lead one to moral truth?
Thinking as destructive, aimless and without result
Can evil be an object of thought?
Characterizing the dialogue of thought
Ability to think and responsibility
Morality and politics; thinking and judging
Concluding remarks
3. Evil and Living with Oneself
Reflections on meta-ethical positions in Arendt's work
Arendt on living with oneself
Problematic elements of Arendt's notion of `Living with Oneself'
Can living with oneself be an ultimate moral standard?
Is living with oneself the same as thinking?
Does everyone live with him- or herself or only a select few?
Does the notion of living with oneself undermine the thinking thesis?
Character, integrity and living with oneself
4. Nonparticipation
Individual (moral) guilt and collective (political) responsibility
Moral incapacity
Morally unthinkable.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-222) and index.
Introduction: Hannah Arendt and ethics after Auschwitz -- Philosophy and politics -- Ethics and politics -- Arendt's ethics -- Hannah Arendt and ethics after Auschwitz -- 1. Arendt, Eichmann and the Banality of Evil -- Arendt on Eichmann -- Eichmann controversy -- Was Arendt wrong about Eichmann? -- Banality: One form of evil -- Intention and moral responsibility -- Neiman on Arendt -- Intention -- Responsibility -- Moral luck -- Concluding remarks -- 2. Thinking and Evil -- Arendt on thinking and morality -- Thinking: A particular kind of process -- Thinking as destructive -- Thinking as dialogue -- Conversation: A model for Arendt's notion of thinking? -- Thinking, reality and the other -- Moral relevance of thought -- Is thinking a moralizing activity? -- Does the thinking process lead one to moral truth? -- Thinking as destructive, aimless and without result -- Can evil be an object of thought? -- Characterizing the dialogue of thought -- Ability to think and responsibility -- Morality and politics; thinking and judging -- Concluding remarks -- 3. Evil and Living with Oneself -- Reflections on meta-ethical positions in Arendt's work -- Arendt on living with oneself -- Problematic elements of Arendt's notion of `Living with Oneself' -- Can living with oneself be an ultimate moral standard? -- Is living with oneself the same as thinking? -- Does everyone live with him- or herself or only a select few? -- Does the notion of living with oneself undermine the thinking thesis? -- Character, integrity and living with oneself -- 4. Nonparticipation -- Individual (moral) guilt and collective (political) responsibility -- Moral incapacity -- Morally unthinkable.
