Summary of Hannah Arendt's On Violence

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The twentieth century has been a century of wars and revolutions, and the use of violence has become increasingly ineffective. The means-end principle, which is the chief characteristic of human action, is being applied to human affairs, and the end is often more relevant to the future world than the means. #2 The fact that the results of men’s actions are beyond their control does not make violence any less arbitrary. The unpredictability of violence remains even when people call it a random event. #3 The most frightening thing about brainy government officials is not that they are cold-blooded enough to think the unthinkable, but that they do not think. They simply project present automatic processes and procedures into the future, and then call these events random and unpredictable. #4 The idea that violence is a marginal phenomenon in human history is completely false. The Second World War was not followed by peace, but by a cold war and the military-industrial-labor complex.