ABSTRACT
This chapter presents three different theoretical perspectives on the authority of law. The perspectives analysed include philosophical anarchism, claims when an authority has an exclusive moral privilege to rule and inclusive legal positivism. These theories are described to provide a context for Eichmann's views on legal authority and Hannah Arendt's subsequent engagement with Eichmann about the duties of citizens confronted with immoral law. To introduce this analysis, the chapter recounts a moment in the trial where Eichmann directly invokes Kant and suggests that, prior to the Final Solution, he had lived his life according to the dictates of practical reason. The chapter suggests that a great deal of Arendt's subsequent writing on judgment can be understood as an extended argument with Eichmann about a proper reading of Kant and as an attempt to deploy his work as a resource for individuals to think critically about authority.
