Article:
Providing evidence for a philosophical claim: The Act of Killing and the banality of evil

Abstract

This article extends the thesis that films can do philosophy from narrative fiction film to documentary, a film genre whose philosophical significance has been underappreciated. It argues that documentary films are capable of doing philosophy by providing empirical support for a philosophical thesis. Focusing on the innovative use of reenactment in THE ACT OF KILLING (2012), the argument is that the film confirms Hannah Arendt’s thesis concerning the banality of evil articulated in EICHMANN IN JERUSALEM (1964).


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Wartenberg, Thomas E.: Providing evidence for a philosophical claim: The Act of Killing and the banality of evil. In: NECSUS. European Journal of Media Studies, Jg. 6 (2017), Nr. 2, S. 73-90. DOI: 10.25969/mediarep/3401.
@ARTICLE{Wartenberg2017,
 author = {Wartenberg, Thomas E.},
 title = {Providing evidence for a philosophical claim: The Act of Killing and the banality of evil},
 year = 2017,
 doi = {10.25969/mediarep/3401},
 volume = 6,
 address = {Amsterdam},
 journal = {NECSUS. European Journal of Media Studies},
 number = 2,
 pages = {73--90},
}
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