Facing the Banality of Evil
At a summer seminar sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, teachers explore the work of philosopher Hannah Arendt.
A conversation with political philosopher Hannah Arendt is bound to be challenging, unpredictable, wide-ranging and more than a little unsettling.
Just ask , professor emerita of women鈥檚 studies, who has conversed with Arendt on and off for most of Jones鈥� 24 years at 色情视频.
Given that Arendt died in 1975, that may seem impossible, but in fact, her writings continue to engage academics and provoke debate about the perennially intriguing issues of authority, revolution, freedom, tradition and the modern age.
fled her native Germany in 1933. After some years in France, she was sent to a deportation camp, but escaped and ultimately reached the U.S. with the aid of the Varian Fry, an American who helped hundreds of Jews escape Europe as Nazi power expanded.
In her book, 鈥淓ichmann in Jerusalem,鈥� about the Nazi official often called the architect of the Holocaust, Arendt coined the phrase 鈥渢he banality of evil鈥� to describe how ordinary people can be accomplices to evil by blindly following orders or conforming to the norms of a corrupt society.
Heroic events
This is the third summer Jones has invited a group of teachers to participate in the conversation with Arendt through a entitled The Political Theory of Hannah Arendt: The Problem of Evil and the Origins of Totalitarianism.
Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the six-week seminar attracts a diverse group of middle and high school educators from all parts of the country. Together they explore new ways of understanding the lessons of totalitarianism and the Holocaust, and the contemporary reverberations of these events in both personal and political life.
Visiting scholars add different perspectives to the mix. This summer, Jones invited three professors: Danielle Celermajer from the University of Sydney spoke on Arendt and human rights; Joanna Scott from Eastern Michigan University spoke on Arendt and the Christian philosopher Augustine; and Sandra Luft from San Francisco State University discussed Arendt鈥檚 Theory of Action.
鈥淥ne thing Arendt brings home is that you are responsible for your actions,鈥� said seminar participant Michael Scoblete, a New Jersey high school teacher. 鈥淓ven in the worst of times, there are people who do the right thing. Students are looking for these heroic anecdotal events that say, 鈥楾here is a role for you to be a human being.鈥欌��
Jones said she is 鈥渁lways impressed鈥� by the teachers鈥� commitment to understanding and implementing Arendt鈥檚 political theories. Some have applied them to address bullying or intolerance at school; one North Carolina teacher created a website on Holocaust studies; a librarian incorporated the material into a program for incarcerated teens.
Part scholarship, part reflection
Jones鈥� interest in Arendt dates back to her graduate school days in New York. Later, as a women鈥檚 studies professor at 色情视频, she returned to Arendt鈥檚 writing as source material for her own work on authority and gender.
But it wasn鈥檛 until one of Jones鈥� students was murdered by a boyfriend in 1994鈥攁nd Jones pondered why ordinary people do terrible things鈥攖hat she became 鈥渃ompletely involved鈥� with Arendt yet again.
She wrote a personal reflection on the woman who was murdered, the man who murdered her and 鈥渉ow we share the burden for what happens in others鈥� lives by merely not thinking about our own lives and our connection to others.鈥�
Jones鈥� new manuscript, 鈥淥ccupying Hannah: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt,鈥� takes this insight deeper and (she hopes) will be published soon.
