evil, banality and "conscience" at Harvard

it was downstairs in the Lower Level Conference Room at the Center for European Studies Harvard, April 20, 2016...
after the lecture by the prominent New School for Social Research professor on Arendt, Jaspers, radical evil, Eichmann,...there was some discussion about "conscience" in the events of the 20th century...

finally, in some frustration -- having pursued four decades the greater story of this deepest human "theme",...back to Er, to Zarathustra's daena, et al -- he raised his hand to comment:

~ 'this discussion of "conscience" has been flat... too limited in time... conscience is one of the deepest human themes, but conscience is not a fact, it is not a social solution, it is a test...'

no one who attended -- and all attending turned immediately at the intense, earnest, "suffered" voice -- no matter what they thought of the bearded speaker or the idea -- will forget it

Faust at the Golden Gate?

Faust in California? 😆
Could this be felt in California?

Habe nun, ach! Philosophie,
Juristerei und Medizin,
Und leider auch Theologie
Durchaus studiert, mit heißem Bemühn.
Da steh ich nun, ich armer Tor!
Und bin so klug als wie zuvor;
-- Faust: Der Tragödie Erster Teil, Nacht.