Rereading Eichmann in Jerusalem

Hannah Marije Altorf

doi:10.54195/HSOV8373

Rereading Eichmann in Jerusalem

Authors

Hannah Marije Altorf

University of Chichester

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54195/HSOV8373_CH12

Synopsis

Hannah Marije Altorf, in her contribution, “Rereading Eichmann in Jerusalem,” tracks the dispute that emerged on Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), one of the most controversial works of the twentieth century. The focus of the dispute has changed over time, though one constant is the accuracy of the facts presented. Whereas the debate of the facts is important, it will not take away the controversy, because facts never appear in isolation, but are always part of an arrangement or larger story. What is more, such a dispute can hide some causes of the controversy. Altorf offers a reading of Eichmann in Jerusalem that considers two stories as pivotal, namely the stories about two Germans, Feldwebel Anton Schmidt and Probst Heinrich Grüber. The reading shows that Arendt’s primary focus is on moral questions and moral collapse.

Author Biography

Hannah Marije Altorf, University of Chichester

Hannah Marije Altorf is a research fellow at the Iris Murdoch Research Centre, University of Chichester. She has written on the philosophical and literary works of Iris Murdoch and different forms of philosophical dialogue. She is the author of Iris Murdoch and the Art of Imagining (Continuum 2008) and, together with Mariëtte Willemsen, she translated The Sovereignty of Good into Dutch (Boom 2003). She is an experienced facilitator of Socratic dialogues in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany and is writing a book on public philosophy, tentatively called Thinking in Public.