Hannah Arendt

About Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) was a highly influential 20th-century political theorist and philosopher, whose work significantly shaped post-war thought. MIT's Pantheon project ranks her at #818 globally for historical importance, largely due to her seminal concepts on totalitarianism, which she analyzed in works like The Origins of Totalitarianism, and her controversial reporting on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, detailed in Eichmann in Jerusalem, where she coined the phrase "the banality of evil."

Despite her high historical ranking, Arendt's modern internet attention presents an interesting contrast. In 2025, she accrued approximately 985,000 Wikipedia views, resulting in an "overattention" score of +3x relative to her historical importance index. This suggests that while she commands significant modern interest compared to many figures, she is still highly sought after online relative to her overall historical influence score. For context, the more historically important Gustave Flaubert (#516 HPI) received only 207K views in the same year, highlighting a notable disparity in digital engagement.

Her momentum in 2025 is positive, showing a +7% increase in Q1 versus Q3 interest and a strong year-over-year view growth of +20.2%, indicating her philosophical concepts remain highly relevant in contemporary discourse.