Summary
The psychological factors that lead individuals to resist accepting "generally accepted facts," highlighting narcissistic personality traits, cognitive dissonance, authoritarian tendencies, egocentric bias, and motivated reasoning. These patterns are explained through examples of politicians who refuse to acknowledge objective reality, emphasizing the importance of shared validation for factual truth. The second source examines the evolution of Hannah Arendt’s theory of totalitarianism as presented in her book The Origins of Totalitarianism, tracing its development through three distinct phases: her early theory of Nazi "race imperialism," her initial theory of totalitarianism, and her revised theory encompassing the concept of an ideological "law of movement" that guides totalitarian regimes towards escalating violence. The essay explores how the development of Arendt’s theory can help clarify the structure and aims of her argument within the book.
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