The Life Of The Mind

Hannah Arendt opens her work with a question: Can thinking impact morality? Her experience writing about the Eichmann trial showed her that evil relies on thoughtlessness. Eichmann was thoughtless, and therefore capable of participating in atrocities without ever examining the meaning of his deeds. Thus, throughout The Life of the Mind, Arendt wrestles with the moral importance of thinking.

However, Arendt is careful throughout the work to separate thinking from morality itself. She repeatedly reminds readers that the activity of thinking has no guaranteed product. To think is to enter into a silent dialogue with oneself, what she calls the “two-in-one.” This inner dialogue can produce consistency of character and provide a defense against thoughtlessness. The function of thinking is to produce meaning. This is not the same thing as truth; however, since thinking is rooted in meaning, it wards against the type of banality exhibited by Eichmann.

Willing, on the other hand, represents freedom. Drawing from Augustine, Nietzsche, and others, Arendt shows how the tradition of philosophy understood the Will as the force of beginning, the inner push that makes action possible. The inner conflict which arises demonstrates the limitations of the Will as a moral guide: The Will may enable new beginnings, but it does not resolve the question of how to evaluate the moral worth of those actions.