Political Evil: an analysis of Arendt's account of the banality of evil

Abstract

This article will be developed on the basis of Hannah Arendt's thinking about evil, which is divided into radical evil and banalization of evil (political evil). Radical evil is based on totalitarian systems and their mechanisms of domination, such as propaganda, the transformation of man into a thing (superfluous), ideology and terror. The unprecedented evil practiced by totalitarian systems was termed "radical evil," but this phrase was later abandoned for the use of the expression "banalization of evil." The banalization of evil is used to explain rootless or shallow evil, committed not by an evil or devilish agent, but by anyone who is unable to think or question orders. The mass society needs to implant mechanisms of valorization of thought and political action, as a way of impeding that the totalitarian system or a new form of totalitarianism might be implanted within society.