The Life Of The Mind

“Could the activity of thinking as such, the habit of examining whatever happens to come to pass or to attract attention, regardless of results and specific content, could this activity be among the conditions that make men abstain from evil-doing or even actually ‘condition’ them against it?”

This passage describes the core thesis of Arendt’s work and creates the foundation for the theme The Moral Importance of Thinking. After witnessing the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Arendt could not shake the thoughtlessness that characterized Eichmann’s rationale for his actions. Here, she inquires whether thinking may function as an armor against evildoing.

“Absence of thought is not stupidity; it can be found in highly intelligent people, and a wicked heart is not its cause; it is probably the other way around, that wickedness may be caused by absence of thought.”

This definition of thoughtlessness is important to Arendt’s thesis, because it shows that anyone can exhibit thoughtlessness—even people who are otherwise good. In her own life, Arendt witnessed how thinkers and philosophers, including her mentor Martin Heidegger, could end up supporting the Nazi regime. Her argument that thoughtlessness creates wickedness reveals how so many German citizens thoughtlessly accepted the rhetoric of hate.

“To be alive means to live in a world that preceded one’s own arrival and will survive one’s own departure.”

Central to all of Arendt’s works is The Plurality of Experience and Responsibility. She rejects philosophical thought that places the self in a position above the whole. In this passage, she reminds readers of their position within plurality: The world exists and carries on independent of the individual.