The Political Theory of Hannah Arendt: The Problem of Evil and the Origins of Totalitarianism

FAIN: FV-50187-08

San Diego State University Foundation (San Diego, CA 92182-1931)
Kathleen B. Jones (Project Director: March 2008 to June 2010)

A six-week seminar for fifteen school teachers to study three major works by political theorist Hannah Arendt, which provide philosophical lenses to consider the problem of evil, the uses of terror, and the origins of totalitarianism.

This six week seminar will provide intensive study of several key works by the political theorist Hannah Arendt for fifteen secondary school teachers. The works to be studied are The Origins of Totalitarianism, The Human Condition, and Eichmann in Jerusalem. These works shed light on the problem of evil and use of terror in the contemporary age, and provide a philosophical perspective on current debates about the use of violence to settle political conflicts, about the conditions of democracy, and the scope of importance of human rights in global perspective.