the evil of banality

7/21/2019 The Evil of Banality

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The Evil of Banality

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Troubling new revelations about Arendt and Heidegger.

By Ron Rosenbaum

Hannah Arendt.

Hannah Arendt

ill we ever be able to thin! of Hannah Arendt in the same way again" Two new and damning

#riti$ues% one of Arendt and one of her longtime &a'i(sy#o)hant lover% the )hiloso)her *artin

Heidegger% were )ublished within +, days of ea#h other last month. The )ie#es #ast further

doubt on the overin-ated% undereamined re)utations of both /gures and shed new light on

their intelle#tually toi# relationshi).

Ron Rosenbaum

R0& R01E&BA2*

Ron Rosenbaum is the author of The 1ha!es)eare ars and E)laining Hitler. His latest boo!

is How the End Begins The Road to a &u#lear orld ar 444.

*y ho)e is that these revelations will en#ourage a further dis#rediting of the most overused%

misused% abused )seudo(intelle#tual )hrase in our language the banality of evil. The banality

of the banality of evil% the fatuousness of it% has long been fathomless% but )erha)s now it will

be #onsigned to the realm of the de#eitful and disingenuous as well.

The /rst of the two new re)orts5and the one most overloo!ed here in Ameri#a% )erha)s

be#ause it6s not online5a))eared in the sober )ages of ondon6s Times iterary 1u))lement

on 0#t. 9. 4t was titled Blame the i#tim5Hannah Arendt Among the &a'is the Historian and

Her 1our#es. Arendt5the :erman(born refugee intelle#tual% author of the in-uential The

0rigins of Totalitarianism and the #ontroversial Ei#hmann in ;erusalem A Re)ort on the

Banality of Evil5has #ome under /re before for blaming the vi#tim in her Ei#hmann trial

boo!% but the author of the T1 )ie#e% the distinguished British s#holar Bernard asserstein%

brea!s new ground here with material 4 found sho#!ing.

4n a long% #arefully do#umented essay% asserstein <who6s now at the 2niversity of =hi#ago>%

#ites Arendt6s s#andalous use of $uotes from anti(1emiti# and &a'i authorities on ;ews in her

Totalitarianism boo!.



asserstein #on#ludes that her use of these sour#es was more than a methodologi#al error

it was sym)tomati# of a )erverse world(view #ontaminated by over(e)osure to the dis#ourse

of #olle#tive #ontem)t and stigmati'ation that formed the ob?e#t of her study5that ob?e#t

being anti(1emitism. 4n other words% he #ontends% Arendt internali'ed the values of the anti(

1emiti# literature she read in her study of anti(1emitism% at least to a #ertain etent.

asserstein6s #on?e#ture will reignite the debate over Arendt6s #ontem)tuous remar!s on

#ertain ;ews who were vi#tims of Hitler in her Ei#hmann boo! and in her letters.

=ould these revelations hel) banish the roboti# reiteration of the )hrase the banality of evil as

an e)lanation for everything bad that human beings do" Arendt may not have intended that

the )hrase be used this way% but one of its )erni#ious e@e#ts has been to ma!e it seem as

though the sear#h for an e)lanation of the mystery of evil done by ordinary men is over. As

though by naming it somehow e)lains it and even solves the )roblem. 4t6s a )hrase that

sounds meaningful and lets us o@ the hoo!% allows us to avoid fa#ing the di#ult $uestion.

4t was the banality )hrase5and the )ur)orted )rofundity of it in the )o)ular mind5that

elevated Arendt above the ran!s of her fellow eile intelle#tuals in Ameri#a and made her a

)roto(1ontag /gure% a #erebral star of sorts and a revered i#on in #ultural(studies de)artments

throughout Ameri#a. 4t was the )hrase that laun#hed a thousand theses.

To my mind% the use of the )hrase banality of evil is an almost infallible sign of shallow

thin!ers attem)ting to seem intelle#tually so)histi#ated. =ome on% )eo)le 4t6s a ban!ru)t

)hrase% a sub)rime )hrase% a r. Chil(level )hrase mas$uerading as a )rofound #ontrarianism.

0ooh% so daringD Evil #omes not only in the form of musta#he(twirling 1nidely hi)lash ty)es%but in the form of )a)er )ushers who followed evil orders. And when a))lied5as she originally

did to Adolf Ei#hmann% Hitler6s eager ee#utioner% res)onsible for the logisti#s of the inal

1olution5the )hrase was utterly fraudulent.

Adolf Ei#hmann was% of #ourse% in no way a banal bureau#rat He ?ust )ortrayed himself as

one while on trial for his life. Ei#hmann was a vi#ious and loathsome ;ew(hater and (hunter

who% among other things% )ersonally intervened after the war was e@e#tively lost% to insist on

and ensure the mass murder of the last inta#t ;ewish grou) in Euro)e% those of Hungary. 1o

the )hrase was wrong in its origin% as a))lied to Ei#hmann% and wrong in almost allsubse$uent #ases when a))lied generally. rong and self(#ontradi#tory% linguisti#ally%

)hiloso)hi#ally% and meta)hori#ally. Either one !nows what one is doing is evil or one does

not. 4f one !nows and does it anyway% one is evil% not some s)e#ial sub#ategory of evil. 4f one

doesn6t !now% one is ignorant% and not evil. But genuine ignoran#e is rare when evil is going

on.

Arendt should have stu#! with her original formulation for the &a'i #rimes% radi#al evil. &ot

an easy #on#e)t to de/ne% but% you might say% you !now it when you see it. =ertainly one with

more validity than banality. <asserstein dryly notes that her e)igones have tried valiantly tore#on#ile the two )ositions% she herself re#ogni'ed the in#onsisten#y5between radi#al and

banal evil5but never satisfa#torily resolved the fundamental self(#ontradi#tion.> But Arendt

-ed from radi#al evil into banality in more ways than one.



here the asserstein arti#le brea!s new ground is in his #itation of some of the anti(1emiti#

sour#es Arendt used for what is #onsidered her ma?or wor!% The 0rigins of Totalitarianism. 0f

#ourse% Arendt has been #alled hostile to ;ews% )arti#ularly those who la#! the :ermani#

a##ulturation she was so )roud of.

But The 0rigins of Totalitarianism has not% until now% #ome under /re on these grounds. And 4

must say that even though it6s a boo! massively bloated by irrelevant show(your(wor! history%

it serves as ballast for an im)ortant theoreti#al insight that the similarities among )oli#e(

state surveillan#e regimes are more im)ortant than the di@eren#es% that the similarities #an

be summed u) by a single word5totalitarianism5that a))lies to di#tatorshi)s of the left and

right% of any ideology and by etension any theo#rati# regime or movement.

4t6s a #on#e)t that has great relevan#e right now be#ause there are still those who don6t

understand how theo#rati# )oli#e states #an be #alled fas#ist. uhD 4t6s be#ause they6retotalitarian. hatever religion they )rofess% what they share with )ast fas#ist regimes is

greater5in terms of denial of human rights5than what se)arates them. ;ust as )oliti#al

regimes ado)t religious(ty)e totalist worshi) of the state or the leader to enfor#e their

o))ression% religious or theo#rati# regimes ado)t )oliti#al o))ression to enfor#e their

orthodoies.

But asserstein <who ironi#ally delivered his #on#lusions originally at the Hannah Arendt

e#ture at Holland6s Radboud 2niversiteit% &i?megen in e#ember F,,85)robably not what

they e)e#ted> has found some )roblems in her histori#al analysis of anti(1emitism.

He introdu#es his /ndings with a #urt nod to the Arendt defenders 4n The &ew Gor! Review

of Boo!s in F,,7 ;eremy aldron re)roved the historian alter a$ueur for having s)e#ulated

that Arendt 6had read too mu#h anti(1emiti# literature for her own good.6 aldron%

asserstein observed% #onsidered the #on?e#ture [email protected]

A#tually% asserstein #ontinues% it merits serious #onsideration% as emerges if we eaminethe use of sour#es in her wor!. =onsider% for eam)le% Arendt6s dis#ussion% in the se#ond

se#tion of 0rigins% of the role of ;ews in the gold and diamond rushes in 1outh Afri#a at the

turn of the twentieth #entury. 1he relies here on the a##ount by the British e#onomist ;.A.

Hobson in whi#h he referred to ;ewish /nan#iers 6leaving their e#onomi# fangs in the

#ar#asses of their )rey. They fastened on the Rand as they are )re)ared to fasten u)on any

other s)ot on the globe65)art of a )assage that Arendt $uotes with e)li#it and unironi#

a))roval% #ommending it as 6very reliable in observation and very honest in analysis.6

angs" Gou say this sounds li!e )ure Hitlerite rhetori# that #ould have been lifted from *einIam)f" ell% yes% it does% doesn6t it"



And then there6s this 0ne of her authorities on 1outh Afri#an ;ews% asserstein re)orts% is

an arti#le by Ernst 1#hult'e% a longstanding &a'i )ro)agandist% that a))eared in a :erman

)ubli#ation founded and dire#ted by the )rominent &a'i ideologist Alfred Rosenberg.

And then in a new )refa#e Jto The 0rigins of TotalitarianismK written in +9L7% Arendt

#ommends the wor! of the leading &a'i historian alter ran! whose 6#ontributions%6

asserstein $uotes Arendt% 6#an still be #onsulted with )ro/t.6

asserstein wonders about her motives here as she bending over ba#!wards not to be

totally dismissive of ideologi#al o))onents who des)ised her on #ategori#al <i.e. ra#ial>

grounds" he as!s.

But there must have been more to it than that% he answers% be#ause modern ;ewish history

was the only sub?e#t where she re)eatedly relied on &a'i historians as eternal authorities%that is% other than as eviden#e of what the &a'is themselves thought or did. *oreover she

internali'ed mu#h of what the &a'i historians had to say about ;ews% from the 6)arasitism6 of

;ewish high /nan#e to the 6internationalism6 of JaltherK Rathenau Jthe eimar :erman

minister assassinated by anti(1emites.K

0f #ourse% there have always been ;ewish #riti$ues of ;ews. But Arendt6s aversion #learly ran

mu#h dee)er than has been su))osed% asserstein asserts. He #on#ludes his )ie#e by

wondering% hy"

4 believe the new Heidegger revelations may shed some light on that $uestion. 4t6s always

been #ontroversial to dis#uss Arendt6s lifelong romanti# infatuation with the &a'i(sym)athi'ing

)rofessor and how it might have sha)ed her intelle#tual )ositions. Arendt6s defenders dismiss

these as tabloid #on#erns% irrelevant to the )ur)orted trans#endental )urity of her thought.

But leaving Heidegger out of the e$uation is be#oming ever more di#ult. &ot only did Arendt

have an a@air with him when she was an +8(year(old student about half his age% before Hitlertoo! over% but des)ite his )ubli# ealtation of the uhrer% des)ite his /ring ;ews on#e he

be#ame re#tor of reiburg 2niversity. e now !now that she later resumed some !ind of warm

relationshi) with the brownshirt )hiloso)her <yes% it turns out he often wore one to his

le#tures>. Arendt hel)ed usher Heidegger ba#! into the intelle#tual version of )olite so#iety%

indeed assisted in )reventing his ostra#ism as a Hitlerite% at least by those who #onsidered his

notoriously o)a$ue use of )hiloso)hi#al language to o@er something of value beneath it5

a)art from further o)a#ity.

The new Heidegger material o@ers further eviden#e of his slavish devotion to the uhrer% notmerely in his )ubli# s)ee#hes but also in his desire to /nd a )hiloso)hi#al grounding for

Hitlerism in the elevated realms of his thought.



=onsider this $uotation from a delightfully a#erbi# review essay by =arlin Romano in the 0#t.

+8 =hroni#le of Higher Edu#ation%whi#h dis#usses new revelations about Heidegger6s

shameless ado)tion of &a'ism.

&et month Gale 2niversity Cress will issue an English(language translation of Heidegger The

4ntrodu#tion of &a'ism 4nto Chiloso)hy% by Emmanuel aye% an asso#iate )rofessor at the

2niversity of Caris at &anterre. 4t6s the latest% most #om)rehensive ar#hival assault on theostensibly magisterial thin!er who informed reiburg students in his infamous +933 re#toral

address of &a'ism6s inner truth and greatness% de#laring that the Mhrer% and he alone% is

the )resent and future of :erman reality% and its law.

aye% whose boo! stirred ran#e6s red and blue Heidegger dN)artements into dire#t battle a

few years ba#!% follows in the investigative footste)s of =hilean(;ewish )hiloso)her i#tor

arias <Heidegger et le &a'isme% +987>% historian Hugo 0tt <*artin Heidegger 2nterwegs 'u

Oeiner Biogra)hie% +988> and others. Aim" To e)ose the oa/sh meta)hysi#ian6s vulgar% often

vi#ious +93,s attem)t to be#ome Hitler6s #hief a#ademi# tribune% and his )ost(orld ar 44

#ontortions to es#a)e )ro)er ?udgment for his sins. e now !now% re)orts aye% that

JHeidegger6sK attem)t at self(?usti/#ation of +9PQ is nothing but a string of falsehoods.

Romano6s =hroni#le )ie#e generated an often(furious #omments thread% a s)e#ta#le of

)ostmodernists in tem)er tantrum mode.

4 #an understand the s)leneti# atta#!s on Romano for not ta!ing Heidegger seriously%although the angry Heideggerian a#ademi#s never e)lained ea#tly why we should.

4n general% 46m in favor of se)arating the man <or woman> from the wor!% but it was Heidegger

himself%his defenders don6t seem to re#ogni'e% who #laimed &a'ism for his own. He didn6t

ma!e the se)aration between man and )hiloso)hy that they #onveniently #laim to e#use his

)ersonal ra#ism.

The debate about Heidegger reminded me of a #onversation 4 had with )hiloso)her Berel ang

on the evolution of evil% an e#hange 4 wrote about in E)laining Hitler. e dis#ussed

whether Hitler re)resented a new de)th of evil and what the net ste) down into the abyss

might be. ere there degrees of evil5that led to Hitler" And would Hitler lead to degrees of

evil beyond his own" 4 had suggested Holo#aust denial was su#h a net ste)% in the sense that

it added insult to in?ury% but ang disagreed% arguing that Heidegger6s )ostwar silen#e on

&a'ism eem)li/ed the net ste) in the evolution of evil. After the war% this )ur)ortedly great

and #om)rehensive )hiloso)her never )ublished anything that addressed the fa#t of the

Holo#aust that his )arty )er)etrated. 4t ?ust didn6t im)inge on his worldview. He had time to

write )olemi#s against me#hani'ed agri#ulture but not industriali'ed murder. ang thought

Heidegger6s indi@eren#e was a whole new !ind of evil. <He even wrote a boo! #alled

Heidegger6s 1ilen#e.>



hi#h brings us ba#! to Arendt again. As the etent of Heidegger6s enthusiasti# embra#e of

&a'ism be#omes more a))arent% and as it be#omes ever #learer that the allegian#e was not

merely o))ortunisti# and #areerist but derived from a )hiloso)hi#al anity with his uhrer6s

e@usions% it be#omes im)ossible not to reeamine #ertain $uestions. 1u#h as How mu#h did

Arendt !now about the de)th of Heidegger6s allegian#e" id Heidegger lie to her" id she

believe him the way she believed Ei#hmann" id she assume his #om)li#ity with the

geno#idaires was something #areerist and banal" 0r worse% did she !now" And did she

disingenuously <or self(de#e)tively> #onstru#t her false banal Ei#hmann from her false banalHeidegger"

riter Caul Roa'en on#e s)e#ulated on this $uestion

4f Ei#hmann was sim)ly following orders% and his #ondu#t was #erti/ably normal within the

#ontet of &a'i :ermany% her own defense of Heidegger #an re-e#t the way a so#ial thin!er

su#h as herself might be #onditioned by #ir#umstan#es and advantage to #urry favor in the

midst of the most vile forms of evil. Having as a ;ew es#a)ed from :ermany in +933% Arendt

remained for the rest of her life loyal to the whole )hiloso)hi# tradition that had hel)ed lead

to Hitlerism. ...

4t may forever remain a mystery% even more so now. asserstein believes she internali'ed

anti(1emiti# literature 4 would )erha)s modify this to say she internali'ed the )ur)orted

universalism of :ermani# high #ulture with its disdain for )aro#hialism. A )aro#hialism she

identi/ed with% in her own #ase% her ;ewishness% something she felt ashamed of on intelle#tual

grounds% so )rimitive% this tribal allegian#e in the )resen#e of intelle#ts who su))osedlytrans#ended tribalism <or at least all tribes e#e)t the Teutoni#>.

0ne #an still hear this Arendtian shame about ethni#ity these days. 1o )aro#hialD 0ne #an

hear the e#ho of Arendt6s fear of being ?udged as merely ;ewish in some% not all% of those

;ews so eager to disso#iate themselves from the )aro#hial #on#erns of other ;ews for 4srael.

The desire for universalist a))roval ma!es them so disdainful of any ethni# fellow feeling.

After all% to su#h unfettered s)irits% it6s so banal.

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