BF199 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Psychopathy, Totalitarianism, Judith Butler
Document Summary
Arendt, hannah eichmann in jerusalem, p 21-36, 135-150. Hannah arendt was a leading political thinker of the 20th century. Her primary concern was with how we may formulate a framework that would allow us to come to terms with the twin horrors of the twentieth century, nazism and stalinism. She introduces two important terms/phrases, totalitarianism and the banality of evil. Nazi germany and stalinist soviet union represent two modern totalitarian states that are evil. Arendt argues that totalitarian states require the totality of all within its borders. Everything, even human identity, belong to the powers of the state. Humans themselves become dispensable to the desires of the state. Individuals (me, you) are fundamentally opposed to the totalitarian state. People are reduced to cogs in a machine. Some societies demand our freedom from us (though we might not recognize this as such). Political pressure makes people less than real people.
