Vortrag | Das radikal Böse und das banal Böse. Kant, Arendt und der Eichmann-Prozess

In the organizer's words:

The question of evil is a fundamental question of philosophy. Prof. Christoph Schulte presents two modern answers. Immanuel Kant was the first to use the concept of radical evil. As a free being, man can consciously decide against the good; evil denotes a fundamental reversal of the mind and moral judgment. Hannah Arendt initially adopts Kant's concept of radical evil and uses it to characterize the industrialized mass murder in the extermination camps of the Shoah as a unique and unforgivable crime against humanity. Later, in her 1963 book "Eichmann in Jerusalem", she also established the concept of the "banality of evil". This describes the ultimately banal moral thoughtlessness, the base motives and the opportunistic diligence of desk criminals such as Adolf Eichmann. How can the concept of evil explain the crimes of modernity?

Christoph Schulte is Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies at the University of Potsdam.

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