Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem – Lecture 2: The Banality of Evil

This second lecture on Eichmann in Jerusalem is divided into four sections. First, we discuss various concepts of evil philosophers have advanced over time. Second, we review Kant’s perversion theory of evil. Third, we examine Eichmann’s misuse of Kant’s categorical imperative. Finally, we reconstruct Arendt’s conception of radical evil, which follows Kant’s conception, and her turn to the idea of the banality of evil, which she developed in response to the Eichmann trial.