Research On Hannah Arendt's "Mediocre Evil" And "Totalitarianism"

This thesis attempts to explore why a nation or a democratic republic that has produced so many important thinkers and scientists still cannot prevent persons and things like Hitler and Nazi's totalitarianism from taking place by discussing Hannah Arendt's thought of "the banality of evil" and "totalitarianism." The thesis explicates and discusses Arendt's political thought of "the banality of evil and the "totalitarianism from the following four respects:First,thesis clarifies the concept of "totalitarianism," and discusses the main features of the"totalitarianism" that Arendt criticizes,such as persecution of Jewish people and propaganda of Nazi's ideology.Secondly,based upon what Arendt has said,the thesis analyses the causes of Nazi's totalitarianism from the respects of political system(such as defects of Weimer Republic),social economy(economic crises),ideology and social psychology of the ordinary people.Thirdly,the thesis discusses Arendt's notion of "the banality of evil," puts stress on the features of "the banality of evil," and supplements social psychological experiments such as Milgram's experiment and Achi's experiment of conformity.Finally,based upon the enlightenment of Arendt's political thought of the totalitarianism and the banality of evil,the thesis discusses Arendt' ideas of how to prevent totalitarianism and the banality of evil from taking place,i.e.,her liberal constitutional republicanism.More specifically,the thesis discusses her analysis of human condition,the distinction between private and public realms,anti-banality-of-evil theory,and the return to the classical republicanism.Arendt's thought of the banality of evil and the totalitarianism is still valuable in understanding human and human political system.Of course,her thought has its own limits or defects.We need to rethink about the enlightenment of her thoughts and the problems she has raised and continue to explore how we can improve current political system to prevent totalitarianism and the banality of evil from taking place.