Table Of ContentThe Path to Mass Evil
On the Southern border of the United States in 2018, the decision was made
to implement a separation policy among refugees and migrant families arriv-
ing at the border – and so a group of government employees left their homes,
bidding farewell to their families as they went to work, and began to sep-
arate hundreds of children from their families, forcefully taking them to
holding centres. Developing Hannah Arendt’s analysis of the banality of evil,
The Path to Mass Evil demonstrates how the most educated, sophisticated
and advanced societies in human history have the potential to descend into
profound inhumanity and in the extreme can turn into enormous killing
machines, implementing mass murder on a vast scale.
Suitable for undergraduates and graduates in philosophy, sociology, psychol-
ogy and religion, Michael Hardiman reveals how traditional understandings of
morality fail to grasp how ordinary citizens become collaborators and engage
in a range of levels of evildoing. He also highlights the necessity of confronting
this evil in the increasingly divided and antagonistic world in which we find
ourselves today.
Michael Hardiman Ph.D. works as a psychologist and educator in the West
of Ireland where he has over 30 years’ experience in private counselling, train-
ing and development, while also presenting seminars and workshops nation-
wide to family centres and to adult education services.
The Path to Mass Evil
Hannah Arendt and Totalitarianism
Today
Michael Hardiman
First published 2023
by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hardiman, Michael, author.
Title: The path to mass evil : Hannah Arendt’s concepts of banality and
ideology today / Michael Hardiman.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021059448 | ISBN 9781032107103 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781032107097 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003216674 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975. | Good and evil. | Banality
(Philosophy) | Ideology. | Violence. | Collective behavior.
Classification: LCC B945.A694 H375 2022 | DDC 170--dc23/eng/20220304
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059448
ISBN: 978-1-032-10710-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-10709-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-21667-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003216674
Typeset in Garamond
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
To
David, Sarah and Rose
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
1 Philosophical Approaches to the Problem of Evil:
An Historical Overview 1
2 The Banality of Evil 19
3 Banality and the Masses 47
4 Ideology, Totalitarianism and Mass Evil 79
5 Pernicious Ideologies 94
6 Totalising Ideology and Religion 122
7 The Fusion of Ideology with Banality 151
8 The Murderous Alphabet 178
9 Combating Mass Evil: Arendt’s Legacy Today 201
Index 227
Acknowledgements
Two people who are no longer with us contributed greatly to my intellectual
formation. The first is Professor Martin McHugh, Psychology Department at
National University of Ireland, Galway. A gentle and erudite scholar, he recog-
nised in me something I did not see and helped it along. The second is Dr Bruno
Mulcahy Ph.D. who became a fast friend after he surgically dismantled some
of my writing and helped me learn something of the art. The specifics of the
book itself were greatly helped by Professor Felix O’Murchadha, Department
of Philosophy at National University of Ireland, Galway. His depth of knowl-
edge, and his consistent support were invaluable throughout. Professor Peg
Birmingham, Professor of Philosophy at DePaul University, Indiana, played no
small part in encouraging me to complete the work.
Writing a book on the subject of human evil always runs the risk of leav-
ing one’s consciousness strained by the encounter with so much darkness. In
addition to the constant restorative of the love of my children, David, Sarah
and Rose, my friends Jimmy Brick, Eugene and Deirdre Greaney and the easy
company of my sisters Anna Marie, Bernadette and Rachel have lightened the
journey with their warmth, patience and capacity for joy. Thank you.
It can happen, and it can happen everywhere…it is not very probable that
all the factors that unleashed the Nazi madness will again occur simul-
taneously but precursory signs loom before us…. It only awaits its new
buffoon (there is no dearth of candidates) to organise it, legalise it, declare
it necessary and mandatory and so contaminate the world. Few countries
can be considered immune to a future tide of violence generated by intoler-
ance, lust for power, economic difficulties, religious or political fanaticism,
and racialist attritions.
Primo Levi
