The Banality of Evil
The Banality of Evil

Summary/Abstract: The article addresses the issue of evil in the 20th century, which, in opposition the transcendental approach, it describes in terms of banality. Using the example of Adolf Eichmann, the author presents a system of violence which springs from the society’s bureaucratic tendencies. Dehumanising personal relationships and an efficiency-oriented politics lead to the creation of a new kind of evil, characterised by a lack of consciousness on the part of its perpetrators and a mechanical treatment of an individual human being. The author illustrates this phenomenon by the fact that the Nazi propaganda avoided words like murder, replacing them with euphemisms such as special treatment, etc.

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