The Thoughtless Evil And The Active Thinking

This article attempts to track several key issues of Hannah Arendt’s Political Philosophy,by studying on “the Banality of Evil”:the relationship between radical evil and the banality of evil,evil and thinking,thinking and action.These three issues goes through as a key clue.Firstly,retrospect the foundation of Arendt’s thought of the banality of evil,shows the evolution of evil problems from ancient Greek to Kant,as well as Arendt’s initial exploration on evil in The Origins of the Totalitarianism.Secondly,perspective turns to individual from society.With Eichmann Trials as a starting point,we analyze how people in such wicked society be mired in the danger of the thoughtless evil,and then,clarify the personal moral responsibility under Totalitarian control.Thus,attempts to restrain the banality of evil with THINKING.As the lonely thinking cannot be linked with moral options directly,we put regards Judgment as a key intermediary,which is a mental power that can guide the actions effectively,and therefore be able to connect thinking and action.In short,the banality of evil is caused by the social environment,but has deeply rooted in our mind.To our individuals,we have to seek for the help of thinking to resist the evil.Not the lonely thinking,but the active thinking with suspicion,that liberates the power of Political Judgment.That’s why Arendt get political problems back to philosophy,and philosophy itself,can be back into the inherent connection between the life of mind and ancient Greek poleis.Only in this context,we can try to solve the banality of evil,or at least,stay alert and make judgment independently in “the dark times”.