Is evil the product of an ill-advised choice or the result of a lack of moral concept? Hannah Arendt, author of numerous texts including Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, was born in Hanover, Germany. She fled Nazi Germany in 1933 for France and eventually moved to the United States in 1941. Her literature on the evil actions of the Nazis and their root causes fails to defend their actions; rather, it provokes reflection on how bad actions are carried out. Arendt attempts to use an unbiased perspective to prove her belief that the cause of evil is mundane and ordinary, which is supported by the thoughtless and cruel actions of Adolf Eichmann. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Actions and orders can have harmful implications, but the thought process behind each action or order is ordinary, as if it requires no thought. Evil is a concept that will always be present as long as people have free will. Arendt developed a theory to describe the nature of thoughtlessness, based on the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and his evil actions. Arendt believes that anyone can commit evil acts without paying much attention to the potential consequences; this shows that these people do not deal with moral implications and that people can justify their involvement in actions simply by following orders. Unconsciousness is not necessarily a specific state of mind; rather, it is used to describe how an individual makes a choice. For example, Eichmann was responsible for moving specific groups to concentration camps and ordering their massacre. Arendt maintains that he did not want people to be massacred, but was carrying out his orders only so that he could advance his own personal career. Hannah Arendt argues that everyone can tend to ignore moral implications when responding to strong authority. The banality of evil arises from the disconnect between those in power and the population that is afflicted. Individuals in power, like Eichmann, pass orders down the chain of command whose repercussions they never personally see, although they have indirectly imposed this evil. Arendt cites the Milgram Shock experiment which took place in 1961, a year after the trial of war criminal Adolf Eichman. The goal of the experiment was to study how long the average American would persist in obeying an authority figure during a procedure where they thought they were administering potentially fatal electric shocks. The Milgram experiment concluded that "ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even going so far as to kill an innocent human being." Obedience to authority is ingrained in all of us from the way we are raised” (McLeod). Any person receiving orders from a prefect cannot be considered an accomplice to the crime they have been ordered to commit. This shows that many people, placed in a given situation, may be likely to disregard moral guidelines and continue to follow orders; this exaggerates the thoughtless nature of evil, one of the main components of Arendt's thesis. Arendt believes that Eichmann was not necessarily reckless throughout his life. She argues that he was not necessarily a fanatical anti-Semite, but rather was looking for a career opportunity when he chose to rise to the upper echelons of an extremist regime. During histrial, he maintained that he disliked massacre and homicide; he simply cared about doing his job as efficiently as possible. He did not attempt to target Jews after the Nazi Party dissolved. After his involvement with the Schutzstaffel, he fled Europe to live a simple life working in a factory, until he was captured and executed after his trial. While Eichmann was among the Nazis, he proposed a plan to send Jews to Madagascar rather than kill them. This story is detailed in the text: "When, a year later, the Madagascar project was declared "obsolete", everyone was psychologically, or rather logically, prepared for the next stage: since there was no territory to which we could access. “evacuate”, the only “solution” was extermination” (Arendt). He did not attempt to challenge his dignitaries after this plan to expel the Jews. The evidence Arendt presents regarding her Madagascar project contradicts material in the course that claims Eichmann was a fanatical anti-Semite. Eichmann only demonstrated reckless behavior when working with the Nazis. Evil is a byproduct of thoughtlessness when one commits actions without fully considering the consequences as well as selfish motivations such as the acquisition of money and power. Thought is a fundamental part of every person's life, but it is a difficult concept to define. Arendt believes that Eichmann did not have sadistic motivations while working at the Schutzstaffel. “The problem with Eichmann was precisely that so many people were like him and most were neither perverted nor sadistic, they were and still are terribly and terribly normal. . From the point of view of our legal institutions and our moral standards of judgment, this normality was far more terrifying than all the atrocities combined” (Arendt). The most immoral act of the Nazi atrocities was the exploitation of the nature of human tendencies to conform to authority. Top Nazi Party officers were aware that giving orders was the most unethical part of their program; It is very unlikely that people such as soldiers and junior officers will challenge the orders of their superiors. Thoughtlessness is more closely related to unconsciousness than to ignorance. Ignorance implies that a person makes a choice and ignores the instinctive thought to act. The unconscious part of the brain makes up the nature of human behavior and is comparable to unconsciousness. Arendt describes thoughtlessness as a normality of conformity that is exhibited by all, as revealed in the findings of Milgram's shock experiment. The conscious mind is the part of the brain that creates thoughts, and the unconscious part of the brain is what denotes the moral limit at which people will continue to follow orders. Arendt believes that thought is a barrier to prevent humanity from committing evil actions; despite this, there is no specific antidote to the evil because it is rooted in human nature. Thoughtlessness is called banal by Arendt because she tries to prove that the nature of all behavior is ordinary or mundane. Reactions, reflexes, and habits generally dictate the majority of a person's daily actions at work, school, or play. It can be comical to understand the routine behaviors that humans behave in. As senior figures in the Nazi Party showed, people naturally avoid difficult interactions or decisions when faced with moral complications. The Nazis are one of many organized groups around the world that use a chain of command allowing powerful.