(DOWNLOAD) "Examined Lives in the Shadow of Iraq (Adolph Eichmann's Participation in Nazism) (Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt)" by The Humanist ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Examined Lives in the Shadow of Iraq (Adolph Eichmann's Participation in Nazism) (Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt)
- Author : The Humanist
- Release Date : January 01, 2006
- Genre: Reference,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 477 KB
Description
IN HER 1964 BOOK Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt attributed Adolph Eichmann's participation in Nazism not so much to any malevolent intent as to his very ordinary refusal to think--that is, his failure to reflect on the meaning of surrounding phenomena and to reexamine his life and beliefs accordingly. Arendt's insight is that thinking is vital to ethics: ongoing reflection on the way that abstract values take shape in our lives demands courage and integrity and keeps us human ("an unexamined life is no life for a human being," as Socrates famously put it) while mental indolence not only stunts our intellect but reduces ethics to cliches and insulates corrupt societies from criticism. Arendt's warning about the dangers of thoughtlessness seem particularly relevant today as sound-bites about "patriotism" and "pride" increasingly drown out honest political discussion. In these dark times, three individuals in the antiwar movement, each with a military background, who spoke in April 2005 at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, offered refreshing glimpses of what it can mean for Americans today to lead examined lives. Theses representatives of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) and Military Families Speak Out (MFSO): Mark Hartford, Teresa Fowler Dawson, and Bobby Hanafin, shared stories with us that revealed their courage, not only as internal critics of the military but as human beings trying to face honestly the truths that confound our beliefs and the difficulties of living up to professed values.