In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life and mind of Hannah Arendt, one of the most influential political theorists of the twentieth century. Born to a Jewish family in Germany and educated by philosophers like Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, Arendt was forced to flee the Nazi regime, surviving internment in France before escaping to the United States as a stateless refugee.

We discuss her groundbreaking—and often controversial—ideas, including:

• The Origins of Totalitarianism: How she analyzed Nazism and Stalinism as novel forms of government that used terror to subjugate populations.

• The Banality of Evil: Her report on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, where she argued that great evil can arise not from malice, but from a "thoughtless" bureaucratic inability to question ...