Totalitarianisme, Banalitas Kejahatan dan Kebebasan Berpikir: Refleksi Bersama Hannah Arendt

Totalitarianism, the Banality of Evil and Freedom of Thought: Reflections with Hannah Arendt

Abstract

This article aims to analyze further Hannah Arendt’s idea on the banality of evil and freedom to think by placing it back in its specific context namely the problem of totalitarianism. The main argument of this article is that the concept of the banality of evil can only be understood in terms of individual existence in totalitarian regime, or in a social and political atmosphere where freedom to think and creative imagination are hindered by totalitarian power. The method of this study is library research and critical analysis of primary literatures namely Arendt’s works, especially Eichmann in Jerusalem, and secondary literatures that discuss Arendt’s thought on the banality of evil. This study indicates that the banality of evil is a different type of evil that rises in a totalitarian regime when the moral status of evil is exceeded by the claims of normality or normativity. Therefore, thinking as dialogue with conscience can prevent someone to commit the banality of evil. Thus, overcoming the banality of evil requires both critical thinking capacity and a friendly political system to freedom of thought.