Publish at May 07 2025 Updated May 07 2025
Many people have the impression, looking at recent events, of seeing a resurgence of the totalitarianism that took place around the 1930s in the 20th century. As a result, the thinking of one philosopher is back in the spotlight: that of Hannah Arendt.
Having herself had to flee the Nazi regime in Germany in 1933 and occupied France in 1940, she witnessed the rise and fall of these regimes. Her thinking is therefore built around this phenomenon. First of all, she differentiates totalitarianism from dictatorship in that it seeks to seize all social elements and individuals and isolate them by creating a climate of conspiracy and paranoia.
Next, she talks about the fact that alienating work has led to the banality of evil. For her, in a normal society, work leads to work (i.e. concrete traces) and action, which enables individuals to rise. Nowadays, however, and even then, the emphasis is solely on work, leading humans to become "animal laborans", incapable of transcending themselves. Which, of course, totalitarian rulers love. So, to get by, everything relies on action or activity, forcing us to confront other people, to reveal ourselves and discover them, in order to build a common world.
Running time: 4min36
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