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Democracy Hannah Arendt Summary

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Needless to say, the work has caused much controversy, mainly due to the fact that it has been misread. Hannah Arendt’s ideas are difficult to grasp because she goes beyond the usual treatment of criminals accused of crimes against humanity, especially if they are former members of the Nazi party, and offers a completely different approach to the issue. Many people have claimed that the author expresses some very relevant philosophical points, but that the historical example she uses is simply not the right one for expressing these points. Most critics have shared the opinion that Arendt failed to recognise Eichmann’s true personality and that with claiming that the motives for his deeds were banal rather than monstrous, she failed to acknowledge …show more content…

The necessary condition for her democracy is thoughtful action, so does this mean that people who do not participate, or those that are incapable of participating in the political sphere would be taken away their rights in this democracy? It seems as if this creates some sort of a paradox, since citizens are divided into two categories, two classes, and only those who deliberate are allowed to participate in this democracy, and it can be questioned whether it can still be called a democracy. Reading political philosophers from Plato to Hannah Arendt reveals that for any state to function properly, certain conditions must be fulfilled. For Plato it is the fact that philosophers – those with the highest mental capacities, the lovers of knowledge – are rulers, and all the rest of the citizens perform the roles they were meant for, and for Arendt it is the fact that deliberation is obligatory. Both of these two theories separate the thinkers from the rest of the citizens, and both of these theories seemingly create an aristocracy, since even though Arendt defends democracy, it seems that those without the capacity or will to deliberate are the class with less rights. Of course Plato’s and Arendt’s “ideal state” are very different, especially because Plato is not a defender of democracy, and especially because Arendt herself never truly wrote a systematic work about democracy, however certain similarities are evident. If it is true that Arendt’s form of democracy suggests a ruling class of the citizens who deliberate over those that refuse to, or do not want to, it is relevant to question whether it is still a democracy or

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This book is intensely moving as it recounts the horrendous acts Eichmann committed without remorse, and goes into the background of several of the key players in capturing him – many of them survivors of concentration camps or those who had lost family in the camps. The narrative of the book is intensely gripping and despite knowing Eichmann was captured, I was on the edge of my seat while reading the different stages of the plan and all the little things that went wrong or off-book in the process. In an amazing narrative technique, the story starts off in medias res on pages one and two with a scene that is later shown again on pages 124 and 125. The second time this scene is shown, however, the suspense is built so strongly that you cannot help but be nervous, even if you already know that Eichmann will ultimately be

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This supposed pretension of a democracy can also be seen as a commentary on the current, real-life democracy of the United States, where many believe the system is rigged against them and is set up for failure--for example, with ridiculous, paradoxical conditions such as requiring “a majority” to change a policy already ratified by a majority. Regardless, the allegory

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Karla Galindo Michelle Stewart Summer English 14 July 2023 Night: Elie Wiesel Dehumanization means to deprive a person of their basic rights and to treat them as inferior and less-than human. Throughout his memoir Night, Elie Wiesel, illustrates how Hitler and his Nazis dehumanize the Jews in their quest to annihilate them. Due to the horrific and inhumane ways in which the Nazis seek to torture and exterminate the Jews, the Jews lose both faith in their God and compassion for one another. The Jews begin to lose faith in their God, their religion, due to the brutal and savage treatment of them in the hands of Hitler’s Nazis.

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I. Introduction The Holocaust is one of the most horrific and cruel genocides known to mankind. Adolf Eichmann is one of the many people who took a huge part in this genocide. He thought of ways to transport Jews to and from concentration camps, as well as ways to efficiently kill a great number of them. Eichmann's atrocious thought processes affects millions of lives.

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Conscience is the feeling inside one 's self that alerts them that something is wrong. This can sometimes be overpowered by stronger external forces such as a powerful authority figure, surrounding circumstances, or the belief that what they did was correct. Through, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt argues that for the first time the world has encountered a different kind of criminal- - one that blindly followed orders from superiors and was made to believe the anti-Semitic ideology, although it could have been any ideology. Similarly, in her work, A Human Being Died That Night, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela claims that the actions of ordinary citizens could be influenced by surrounding practices and drive people

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Finally, the author expresses the dangers in ignorance and forgetfulness, “Because if we forget who the guilty are, we are accomplices” (Wiesel). He also conveys how if we forget the guilty, we do not care about what crimes they put forth. We cannot be ignorant to the oppressors, for the effect is the same as to side with them. In conclusion, Elie Wiesel persuades the audience and expresses his bias on neutrality during World War II by using his authority and personal

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Analyzing Hoss’ childhood to his time in prison is very important because it shows how Hoss was shaped into obeying orders from higher authority and how he developed a sense of duty and devotion to protecting Germany. Hannah Arendt, the author of Origins of Totalitarianism, explains that National Socialism was a totalitarian ideology that built itself on the idea that higher authority from Himmler and Hitler was never to be judged whether they were right or wrong because by following these orders

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Hannah Arendt's book "Eichmann in Jerusalem" is a fascinating and controversial text that explores Adolf Eichmann and his role in the Holocaust. Contrary to the conventional image of Eichmann as a ruthless and bloodthirsty monster, Arendt argues that Eichmann was simply a bureaucrat who followed orders without question. According to Arendt, Eichmann was not a psychopath, nor a serial killer, but simply a man who followed the orders he received from his superiors. While Arendt argues that Eichmann was not a monster, she also argues that he had real responsibility for the Holocaust.

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A German Jew, Arendt understood anti-Semitism, experienced the denationalization of Jews in Germany, and witnessed how the world and even the Jewish Community largely ignored the plight of European Jews.” (59) Obviously many of her real life experiences led her to believe that human rights were non-existent in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Europe. Her experiences with anti-Semitism and denationalization of Jews in Germany must have been important experiences that helped to shape her opinion. Anti-Semitism was one of the main foundations of Nazi Germany and the abomination of human rights for Jews. The Germans were generally being taught that they were a superior race while the Jews were an inferior race (or untermensch).

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Arendt discusses the American revolution and the difference of liberties and freedoms when she writes, “All these liberties, to which we might add our own claims to be free from want and fear, are of course essentially negative; they are the results of liberation but they are by no means the actual content of freedom, which…is participation in public affairs” (Arendt 22). She argues that participation is public affairs is the epitome of freedom. Individuals must partake in politics in order to be free. Arendt sees happiness as a state of rest

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What Arendt did do was open a massive divide between two versions of a painful past: a monstrosity or a normality. Arendt’s critics wanted Eichmann to be the clearest verdict of evil that history has put on record. Arendt disputed not that he was evil, but rather the nature and consequence of such evil. Arendt casts Eichmann into a theory of evil and a narrative of history which, to many of her counterparts, is not only outrageous but perhaps terrifying.

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In which millions of Jews were innocently killed and persecuted because of their religion. As a student who is familiar with the years of the holocaust that will forever live in infamy, Wiesel’s memoir has undoubtedly changed my perspective. Throughout the text, I have been emotionally touched by the topics of dehumanization, the young life of Elie Wiesel, and gained a better understanding of the Holocaust. With how dehumanization was portrayed through words, pondering my mind the most.

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Otto Adolf Eichmann was one of the most important members of the Nazi Party who was accused of crimes against the Jewish people and humanity during World War 2. After the war, he went to Argentina to escape prosecution but was captured there by Israeli agents and was transferred to Israel to be judged. During the trial, Eichmann’s defense was based on Kant’s duty-based ethical theory and categorical Imperative since he overstated many times that he was only following orders. By enouncing Kantian ethical theory, Eichmann acquitted himself from moral guilt. Kant’s categorical imperative as known as The Formula Of The End

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In the United States, people always talk about freedom and equality. Especially they want elections could be more democratic. In American Democracy in Peril, Hudson’s main argument regarding chapter five “Election Without the People’s Voice,” is if elections want to be democratic, they must meet three essential criteria, which are to provide equal representation of all citizens, to be mechanisms for deliberation about public policy issues, and to control what government does. Unfortunately, those points that Hudson mentions are what American elections do not have. American elections do not provide equal representation to everyone in the country.

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“Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy,” said Benito Mussolini. By the time one enters the third grade they become aware of concept of democracy. Specifically in America, one is taught that they live in a democratic society. When asking what is democracy, the answer is never truly defiente. The answers given may be; a society where everyone votes, or by dictionary definition “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of the state; typically through elected representation.”

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