SOBRE A “OBEDIÊNCIA CADAVÉRICA”
UMA LEITURA DE EICHMANN EM JERUSALÉM
Keywords:
Cadaverous Obedience, Report, Speech, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt, Frédéric GrosAbstract
The purpose of this article is to analyze the notion of “obedience of corpses” (Kadavergehorsam), as elaborated by Arendt in Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963). In dialogue with Frédéric Gros’ approach, which takes up the centrality of the Eichmann case and Arendt's account in order to think about the problem of obedience today, we highlight a fundamental lesson we learn from her work, namely the questioning attention dedicated to language, especially with regard to the speech of political actors. The notion of “obedience of corpses” in Eichmann’s speech operates a semantic short-circuit in the traditional distinctions between politics, morality, and the law that makes it possible to illuminate the meaning of the “duties of a law-abiding citizen”. To this end, we argue that it is necessary to distinguish a confusion in the meaning of words from their deliberate distortion in discourse, an operation that is also fundamental in our post-totalitarian contexts.
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- 2025-04-15 (2)
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