今天的话题是汉娜·阿伦特。我们谈论的所有哲学家都有有趣的思想。但他们中的许多人的生活相对乏味。汉娜·阿伦特不是其中之一。她的生活非常有趣，她生活中的事件与她的哲学有很大的关系。

Arendt wrote about totalitarianism, the human condition, and fundamental issues in political theory. She wrote an influential book about the trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem -- a book that made the phrase “the banality of evil” famous. She died in the mid-nineteen seventies. At the time she was a leader on the New York intellectual scene.

阿伦特是犹太人，本世纪初出生在德国。她在Königsburg长大，那是康德的家乡。二十年代，她师从马丁·海德格尔(Martin Heidegger)，两人有过一段激烈的恋情，然后她继续与卡尔·雅斯贝尔斯(Karl Jaspers)撰写关于奥古斯丁(Augustine)的论文。

One might be surprised at the Heidegger connection. Heidegger was a great philosopher, but also a Nazi? What’s a young Jewish graduate student doing having an affair with a Nazi?

But Heidegger wasn’t a Nazi then. He joined the party after Hitler’s rise to power in the mid-thirties, when he was Rector of the University of Freiburg. Arendt actually returned to Germany from New York in the early 50’s, when the occupation forces were trying to decide what to do with Heidegger. Her support was helpful in his being allowed to return as an emeritus professor, and to have contact with students again. This episode, by the way, is the topic of an interesting play, “Hannah and Martin,” which focuses on her conflicted feelings in giving that support.

在她写论文到五十年代之间?反犹太主义和纳粹主义开始严重影响阿伦特。在德国，你写完论文后，还得再写一本书，叫《适应》她被禁止这样做，因为她是犹太人，这也意味着她不能在那里教书。

She began to study anti-Semitism, which drew attention to her. She moved to Paris after being questioned by the Gestapo. She worked to help Jewish refugees there; she spent some time in prison but escaped, and eventually, in 1941, made it to the U.S. She held a number of posts, finally becoming the first woman to be a full professor at Princeton, in 1959. She died in 1975.

The titles of her books, likeThe Origins of Totalitarianism, suggest the connection between Arendt’s interesting life and her philosophical interests. She preferred to be called a “political theorist” but her books were very philosophical nevertheless -- dealing with the nature of action, especially political action.

Ken and I will be joined by Seyla Benhabib, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University. She is the author ofThe Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt.