I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.
—Sonia Sotomayor (2002)
Abstract
The perplexing relationship between two of the twentieth century’s most important philosophers, Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger, has been the subject of much speculation within academic circles. For Arendt, Heidegger was at once, her mentor, her lover, and her friend. In this paper, we juxtapose Arendt’s theory of the banality of evil against her relationship with Heidegger in an effort to consider the question: How does corporeality inform theorizing? In answering this question, we repudiate the conventional reading of the banality of evil, which attributes the theory to Arendt’s analysis of Adolf Eichmann during the latter’s criminal trial for the actions that he perpetrated in the operation of the Holocaust. Instead, we argue that the theory is, more compellingly, reflective of Arendt’s deeply personal attempts at making sense of Heidegger’s decision to affiliate himself with the German Nazi Party in the years preceding, and during, the Second World War. Through this revisionist account of the banality of evil, we animate the idea that theorizing is the discursive corollary, and belongs within the phenomenological parameters, of corporeality. Finally, we contend that any constructive understanding of how corporeality informs theorizing will only be realized, when there is a collapsing of the seemingly impervious philosophical boundaries that demarcate between ontology and epistemology.
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Notes
Among the noteworthy examples of how Heidegger influenced Arendt’s work is on the latter’s use of various narratives to explicate her philosophical positioning. Vasterling (2007) argues that Arendt’s utilization of the narrative, as a source for empirical substantiation, is directly informed by Heidegger’s approach to hermeneutic phenomenology.
Notwithstanding this point, it should be noted that while Arendt’s adulation for Heidegger was often expressed publicly, his consideration of her (and her work) was confined to personal correspondence. And while her support for Heidegger was unwavering, his for her appears tentative. For instance, in one of his early letters to Arendt, Heidegger tries to dissuade her from pursuing a career in academia and the life of the mind. Laden in unqualified sexism, he writes: “Take a step back from the path toward the terrible solitude of academic research, which only a man can endure… Only if you rejoice can you become a woman who can give happiness, and whom around all is happiness, solace, adoration and gratitude” (quoted in Ludz 2014).
Sadly, the loss of subjectivity through the act of not recognizing is a common practice in Israel today. Representatives of the Israeli state routinely employ this practice as part of a broader project to dehumanize Palestinians in everyday interactions. Indeed, as one of the authors of this paper has observed elsewhere, “[p]erhaps nothing else so poignantly expresse[s] the power imbalance in this context than having one’s existence, which is already in a disenfranchised position, completely ignored by the whims of those who occupy roles of authority” (Prasad 2014b: 242).
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Acknowledgements
Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Conference in Edmonton, Alberta (June 2016) and the Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California (August 2016). At the former conference, this paper won the Best Paper Award in Business History. A more refined version of this paper was delivered at an invited seminar in the Department of Management at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia (September 2017). Paulina Segarra acknowledges research support through a doctoral scholarship from CONACYT, while Ajnesh Prasad acknowledges research support through his Canada Research Chair. Together they thank editor-in-chief of the journal, Martin Endress, and two anonymous reviewers whose comments encouraged them to think deeper about the implications of some of the ideas found in this paper.
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Segarra, P., Prasad, A. How Does Corporeality Inform Theorizing? Revisiting Hannah Arendt and the Banality of Evil. Hum Stud 41, 545–563 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-018-9474-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-018-9474-8