She was one of the most influential political theorists of the twentieth century.
…she is best known for those dealing with the nature of wealth, power, and evil, as well as politics,…
Her name appears in the names of journals, schools, scholarly prizes, humanitarian prizes, think-tanks, and streets; appears on stamps and monuments; and is attached to other cultural and institutional markers that commemorate her thought. In 1933, Arendt was briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism.
She was stripped of her German citizenship in 1937…
I think there’s multiple different types of “evil”. What you’re referring to is “sociopathy”: An utter disregard for human life.
Gilbert himself didn’t seem sure he had a complete definition, just a critical piece of it. As a psychologist he would have understood sociopathy well, among other psychological maladies. He seems to be making a distinction here, but that is my reading of him. If he could have provided a diagnosis that underpinned becoming a Nazi it would have been a bombshell, but they all seemed rather normal under a battery of tests. Instead of a specific diagnosis, the Banality of Evil became the commonly cited mechanism behind the Nazi’s abhorrent acts. Weak men following vile leaders.
After thinking about Gilbert’s quote I have come to conclude a lack of empathy is a necessary, if not sufficient condition for evil. There may be more to it, but this piece is already enough to oppose evil, and challenging on its own.