Round 10: Tossup 14

A thinker claimed a form of this concept was unknown to Western tradition after a letter from Karl Jaspers cryptically noted “Hasn’t Yahweh faded too far out of sight?” An essay in The Jew as Pariah compares this concept to fungus on the world’s surface because it lacks depth. The final pages of a book note that only Kant had even conceived of a form of this concept that emerged alongside political systems which make men superfluous. A book purporting (-5[1])to be a “Report” on an aspect of this concept describes a “clown” defendant speaking clichés because he lacks the ability to think. (10[1])The Origins of Totalitarianism (10[1])hypothesizes about the “radical” form of this concept, which the author reformulated after observing the trial of Adolf Eichmann in (-5[1])Jerusalem. For 10 points, (10[1])Hannah Arendt described (10[1])the “banality” (10[1])of what moral (10[1])concept? (10[1])■END■ (10[1])

ANSWER: evil [accept radical evil; accept banality of evil or banal evil; prompt on banality until read]
<Ohio State C, Philosophy> | Packet H - Yale A, Ohio State C, Illinois C, Virginia Tech B, MIT A
= Average correct buzzpoint

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