3 thoughts on my look at Hannah Arendt

Alivia 2022-04-20 09:02:23

1. Failure to pursue rationality. Everyone has concluded: the evil of mediocrity, the modern division of labor, and everyone is actually a product of teleology—the way of thinking of modern people is: You say, what's the use of me doing this? What can I do at the end? This presupposed teleology is the deprivation of thinking. There is already this thing, plus so many miscellaneous ideologies, where does thinking come from? In fact, the pursuit of rational thinking is also in pursuit of the purpose that rationality can achieve. Modern rationality is more of a utilitarianism, that is, the pursuit of income greater than cost. Reason has always been something that is difficult to pursue and grasp, and this thing has no place in our era. Why are the Nazis so obviously irrational? Because the shouts of long live in the Nazis deprive everyone of their thinking, it is an extreme ideology.

2. Thinking about people. There is a famous sentence in the film: understanding is not equal to forgiveness, understanding is to find the crux. There's a lot of debate among college teachers, but in the end everyone puts it aside and laughs. Arendt has always emphasized that Eichmann is not a terrible person, but when the trial results came out, she said, I am in favor of hanging. Here is a kind of thinking in front of people, what does it mean, is thinking on behalf of people, when Eichmann is someone else instead of a person sitting on the judgment seat, what is he like, and how does he behave like this? To be able to do something so heinous.

This is a kind of thinking facing people, but it is not an absolute relativism. But I haven't figured out the specific concept of facing people, but in layman's terms, it is a less emotional experience with a conscience.

For example, Arendt said to love friends rather than Jews, because friends are chosen by oneself, and Jews are more unfamiliar. This is thinking in front of people.

3. The failure of thinking without participation: There are many clips in this film: Heidegger and young Arendt meet, the first scene is Arendt saying "please teach me to think", but in Arendt and the university teachers When it comes to Heidegger, it is said that he joined the Nazis and disappointed us. In fact, here is a truth (I also said it in combination with Arendt's works), thinking that completely takes oneself out, thinking that everything is made as an object, is ultimately anti-political and anti-public, because others always Be silent and others are your material. Your thoughts can be processed, the time is right and the people are processed, OK is no problem, but if you can’t process it, you are the loneliest person.

In the end, there is only a cycle of thinking and rethinking, which is the endless myth of Sisyphus. Because truth is actually unknowable to me, when you teach a kind of thinking to others, it will inevitably become a part of ideology, especially in Leviathan. In the end, it doesn't face the original thing. All are abuses, so the pursuit of truth is always the endless movement of mankind, always untouchable.

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Extended Reading

Hannah Arendt quotes

  • Heinrich Blücher: Dearest. Don't cry.

    Hannah Arendt: I spoke to the doctor. He said you only have a fifty percent chance.

    Heinrich Blücher: Don't forget the other fifty percent.

  • Hans Jonas: But Eichmann is a monster. And when I say monster, I don't mean Satan. You don't need to be smart or powerful to behave like a monster.

    Hannah Arendt: You're being too simplistic. What's new about the Eichmann phenomenon is that there are so many just like him. He's a terrifyingly normal human being.