God, Reason, and Evil (RS 3D03)
Winter 2003
TAKE-HOME QUIZ 7/7A (for those who would like to make up
a missed quiz) - Assignment due in class on March 31 or April 2
Please read Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963) [
purchase
book / different edition on reserve - Since
the pagination of the reserve copy differs from that of the one available
for purchase, you do need to buy the book in this one instance.]: chap. 1: "The House of Justice";
chap. 3: "An Expert on the Jewish Question"; chap. 6: "The Final
Solution: Killing" (SKIP pp. 98-105 top); chap. 7: "The Wannsee
Conference, or Pontius Pilate"; chap. 15: "Judgment, Appeal, and
Execution," pp. 249-52; "Epilogue"; "Postscript," and answer the following questions in 3-5
well-written paragraphs based on close attention to the text.
"Eichmann in Jerusalem: An Exchange of Letters between Gershom Scholem
and Hannah Arendt" (1963) in Arendt, The Jew as Pariah, ed. Ron
Feldman (1978) [copy in coursepack; book on reserve]
Susan Neiman, "Theodicy in Jerusalem" (2001) [copy in coursepack]
Address one of the following questions in 3-5 well-written paragraphs
each. Students who wish to make up a prior quiz that they missed can
answer both questions.
Quiz 7: Part of what Arendt documents and tries to account for in her
book is the discovery at Eichmann's trial "that this man was not a
'monster'" (54). Looking primarily at the later parts of EiJ (chap.
7 and beyond), as well as the letter to Scholem, point out some key claims
Arendt makes about Eichmann's profile and its implications. How does
Eichmann's case exemplify the "banality of evil"? What
implications does this have for understanding moral judgment? (Here, you
might also want to comment on Susan Neiman's remarks, pp. 76 ff., about what she
sees Arendt saying about the role of intention in evil actions. Neiman
observes that Arendt on this point "radically diverges from the
philosophical tradition," including Kant's ideas about morality in the Grounding.
She also links Arendt's analysis of the absence of intention in Eichmann with
her discussion of the Judenräte (the question of Jewish collaboration),
an interpretative hypothesis that you can test out as you read EiJ.)
Quiz 7A: In the "Epilogue" to EiJ, Arendt presents
the view that the Eichmann trial made up for a shortcoming of the Nuremberg
trial in dealing with the Nazi crimes against the Jews as "at best, a
half-truth" (258). With close attention to the text, lay out the
different sides of her argument here: In what sense does she regard
Nuremberg as having indeed taken account of those crimes? For what
reasons/in what sense/within what sorts of limits does she nevertheless
recognize Israel's right to prosecute those who committed crimes against the
Jews?
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NOTE: Now that we are studying texts that include a wealth of factual material, it is all the more
important that in completing these quiz assignments, you continue to do as you
have done for the more conventionally (abstractly) philosophical texts we have
been working on thus far, that is:
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Focus on the conceptual questions you are being asked--i.e.,
continue to focus on explaining what the key terms or concepts are, how they
are understood, what views are presented for consideration, and what claims
are being made and how they are being argued for; and
-
Work very closely with the text to cite evidence for every
step of your presentation. Note that a mere page reference is usually
not sufficient for your reader to be able correlate the point you are making
with its precise basis in the text.
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As for past quizzes, you needn't aim for definitive answers but a
preliminary, thoughtful response based on close attention to the text. (Be
sure to substantiate your presentation with detailed references.) Your
answer may also include 1-2 important questions raised by your reading for
further discussion.
Please use parenthetical page references for your quotations and citations,
and give a chapter number, or "Epilogue"/"Postscript," along
with the page number if applicable, e.g. "6: 84" for chapter 6, page
84.
Please type and double-space your answer, and number and
staple the pages you hand in.
posted March 28, 2003
revised March 29, 2003