This is the final installment of frequent questions raised by my students when reading Hannah Arendt’s essay “Auschwitz on Trial,” my responses follow. For Questions 1–5; for Questions 6–10. Question 11: Is it possible that the defendants denied the truth because they didn’t want to accept the truth of the crimes they committed in Auschwitz? […]
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Further Discussion of Hannah Arendt’s “Auschwitz on Trial”
For ease of reading I have split the “Frequent Reactions to Arendt’s “Auschwitz on Trial” into several sections. You can read the first (questions 1–5) responses here. Question 6: Didn’t the people on trial know better? It seems to be the case that the people on trial didn’t think about whether or not it was […]
Frequent Reactions to Arendt’s “Auschwitz on Trial”
Week 6, Lecture 1 Learning Objectives Identify the arguments made by men on trial in Arendt’s essay “Auschwitz on Trial.” Evaluate these arguments. Here I will present some of the questions I’ve received from students who’ve read Hannah Arendt’s essay “Auschwitz on Trial.” I follow their questions (I’ve anonymized my interlocutors) with my own thoughts […]
Conspiracy, DMing, and Epistemic Anxiety
There is an enlightening bit of journalism about the Qanon phenomenon written by Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins over at NBCnews.com that has prompted me to write this morning. I’m not familiar with the specifics of the conspiracy being unfurled by the Qanon media ecosystem, but I do like a good conspiracy. This is in part […]
Danielle Allen’s “Rhetoric, a Good Thing”
In this chapter from Talking to Strangers, Dr. Allen points out that: In political controversies, there will always be logical arguments for a counterposition, on the basis of exactly the same facts. In this circumstance, no amount of logical argument will determine which speaker to trust. Audiences will turn to assessments of character, and so our […]
Course Schedule
Class Calendar Module 1: “Habitual Modes of Citizenship” Due January 22, 2019. Assessments Review syllabus and syllabus quiz Personal Philosophy Statement Reading Quiz 1 Readings Read and discuss Tompkins, “Some Notes on How To Ask a Good Question about Theory….” L.A. Review of Books’ Avidly, (2016): 1–3. Read and discuss Danielle S. Allen, Talking to Strangers: […]