Failing to Think Leads to Evil

Hey there! This is the 171st Heuton Letter.

When we think of a "bad guy," there's a common image that pops into our heads. Think of psychopaths, violent individuals, tyrants, etc.

It's as if these bad guys have been evil their entire lives.

It would be so convenient if everyone could be clearly split into "good guys vs. bad guys." Sadly, reality isn’t that simple. I like to think I'm a good person, but I could definitely do bad things too. The same goes for you, even if you don’t intend to.

This uncomfortable and unpleasant thought didn’t come from my brain (so please don’t blame me). It comes from Hannah Arendt, a political theorist who fled Nazi Germany for the United States to escape persecution.

Adolf Eichmann

"I was only following orders."

This is what Adolf Eichmann constantly said during his trial.

Adolf Eichmann was the main architect behind the massacre of six million Jews under Hitler’s regime. In short, he was a central figure in the Holocaust. He was a son of a bitch.

Throughout his trial, Eichmann argued that he was merely following orders from his superiors and that the deaths of the Jews were unavoidable consequences of the system.

He claimed that anyone else in his position would have acted the same way. Although he admitted that his actions were morally wrong, he insisted he had no evil intentions and was simply obeying orders, making him legally innocent.

Hannah Arendt attended Eichmann’s trial as an observer and later wrote a book about her observations called “Eichmann in Jerusalem”.

When you think of someone who murdered six million Jews, what image comes to your mind?

You'd probably picture a classic villain, someone who looks evil from head to toe. But Hannah Arendt, who actually saw Eichmann in court, described him with surprise:

"Eichmann didn’t have the evil aura of a Shakespearean villain like Macbeth, nor was he a blatant anti-Semite. He was an ordinary middle-aged man you could easily see around town. He took pride in obeying orders and saw it as his duty to follow through."

Six doctors who examined Eichmann also found him to be “horribly normal.” They even described him as a good father, a good husband, and a good colleague. The doctors discovered that his mental state was not just “normal but desirable.”

In other words, aside from his horrific actions, Eichmann was just a very average citizen—nothing more, nothing less.

The Banality of Evil

In “Eichmann in Jerusalem,” Hannah Arendt introduces the concept of “the banality of evil.”

The banality of evil means that great atrocities aren’t always committed by monsters or sociopaths.

Instead, they can be carried out by ordinary people who “think little, criticize nothing, and passively carry out their assigned roles.”

More precisely, if someone thinks and acts too simply, without considering the broader impact or viewing things from others’ perspectives, anyone can become involved in evil acts (even unintentionally).

Thoughtlessness

Hannah Arendt called this “the inability to think” thoughtlessness. She wrote that Eichmann seemed to lack the very ability to think critically.

He was someone who thought too simply. His perspective was narrow, and his thinking was shallow.

Because of this, he couldn’t consider others’ viewpoints or imagine the broader consequences of his actions. That’s what thoughtlessness is.

Perhaps, from the Nazi perspective, Eichmann was the perfect fit for the job.

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Throughout his trial, Eichmann kept repeating clichés like, “I was just following orders,” “I was just a cog in the machine,” “I strictly followed laws and regulations,” and “It was my duty to be loyal to my country.”

He mechanically spat out these meaningless, stereotyped phrases.

These clichés blurred personal moral responsibility and served as tools that enabled systemic evil.

Hannah Arendt explains:

"(…) However, he wasn’t intellectually stupid. He simply lacked the ability to say a single sentence that wasn’t a cliché.

The more you listened to him, the more his inability to speak was clearly linked to his inability to think—that is, his inability to think from others’ perspectives.

His simple psychology, which resisted imagining what others were going through, made any form of communication impossible.

It wasn’t because he was lying, but because he was hiding behind a solid wall of clichés and idiomatic expressions, showing no willingness to deeply consider the reality of others’ existence."

Eichmann couldn’t engage in thoughtful reflection, and naturally, he couldn’t speak in his own words either. Instead of trying to view from others’ perspectives, he shut himself off with meaningless phrases.

The ability to think

Now you might think, “Man, what a dumb and evil human being!” And that would make Hannah Arendt feel a bit sad.

Because her message is that this kind of thing can happen to any of us.

Especially when being a part of a crowd, individuals can easily shirk responsibility. French political philosopher Gustave Le Bon discusses this in his book “The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind,” saying:

“(Individuals within a crowd) follow their suppressed instincts if they were alone. The anonymity of the crowd makes it easy to act irresponsibly.

The sense of responsibility that usually restrains individuals completely disappears, and the tendency to suppress instincts also fades away.”

Similarly, when you’re inside a highly organized system like a company or the military, your responsibility as an individual can easily get diluted. Being just a small part of a large organization makes it hard to imagine the ripple effects of what you’re doing.

Because of this, there are critical views of the concept of the banality of evil, arguing that it’s not right to place all the responsibility solely on individuals.

Especially in organizations where hierarchy and obedience are paramount, like the military—where disobeying orders can lead to severe punishment—it might be relatively difficult to think and act critically.

Also, in urgent situations where there’s no time for critical thinking, you might just feel it’s right to trust your superiors and follow orders diligently.

Wrapping up

The concept of the banality of evil received a lot of criticism when Hannah Arendt first introduced it in her book. So it’s important to think about it from various angles rather than taking it at face value.

However, the main takeaway is we must never lose our ability to think. Especially when you’re in a crowd or part of a large system.

While a few evil masterminds lead atrocities, it’s the people who stop thinking critically that systematically carry them out.

Just because everyone else is doing it, or because orders are coming from above, blindly following without thought is not only foolish but also dangerous.

There’s absolutely no reason why you have to follow the crowd just because the majority thinks a certain way.

In today’s world, overflowing with all kinds of information—including fake news and propaganda—the ability to think and judge what’s right and wrong for yourself is more crucial than ever. There’s a reason why the easy path is so appealing.

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Don’t just think simply. Look at your thoughts and actions more critically, consider the impact of your actions, and fully take others’ perspectives into account—not just to live well, but to avoid becoming evil.

So, how can we cultivate the ability to think deeply? I think it's pretty obvious... make Heuton a part of your daily routine. 😊