Word: arendt
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...legal sphere, Miss Arendt condemned the "cog" theory as moral evasion. This theory argues that a functionary, like Eichmann, is not responsible for the criminal action of the government whose command he obeys. The courts should not deal with "systems" or "isms," but persons, she added...
...Miss Arendt recalled that before World War II she and her contemporaries regarded morality as a fixed set of values...
...instance of this human reluctance to judge, Miss Arendt said, was Pope Plus XII's refusal to condemn Hitler, which is currently being dramatized in Rolf Hochhuth's play, "The Deputy". Asked later if she felt Pope John XXIII would have kept silent under the same circumstances, Miss Arendt drew applause by saying she was "perfectly sure" he would not have done...
...those who chose "political responsibility" and joined the Nazis, Miss Arendt said, it was remarkably easy to adapt the "cornerstone of the new law: 'thou shalt kill.' At the very moment of its collapse, morality stood exposed in its original meaning--as mores, a set of habits which could be changed as easily as table manners...
Only those whose "consciences did not function automatically," dared judge events for themselves, Miss Arendt said. Their choice not to participate was simply founded on the desire to "live at peace with themselves," she added...