Toward a Karendtian Theory of Political Evil
This Walter C. Murray Public Lecture will explore theories on the topic of political evil from Kant and Arendt
Date: Friday, Nov. 17
Time: 7-8:30 pm
Location: ESB 18
About this event
In this talk, Prof Helga Varden (PhD) will explore Kant’s and Arendt’s ideas on the topic of political evil. Of special interest is Arendt’s theories of power vs. strength vs. force vs. violence; modernity; tyranny vs. totalitarianism; Pariah vs. Parvenue; spectator vs. actor; mob vs. elite vs. totalitarian movement. In Kant, Varden focuses on his theories of republic vs. despotism vs. anarchy vs. barbarism with their related discussions of law, freedom, and violence to his discussions of the propensity of evil in contrast to the predisposition to good. Given how deeply inspired Arendt was by Kant’s philosophy, their deep compatibility is not accidental, but it is still surprising to see how rich the result of combining their efforts is.
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