Clinical practice in light of a philosophical thinking: How the concept of triteness of evil described by Hannah Arendt questions our professional responsibility

Many clinical situations generate relative difficulty for the professionals to substantiate an action or a therapeutic project in the case of a sick person: What is good to do? How and why? The philosophical and political concept of triteness of evil proposed by HannahArendt in her book `'Eichmann in Jerusalem'' (1963), seems interesting to consider when youare a healthcare professional aware of the ethical dimension of our practice. We do not thinkthat there were in the daily caregiver practice sorts of `'evil'' which can be compared to thegenocidal evil studied by Arendt. It is not to consider the Arendt thought as a fundamentaltruth without any discussion or controversy. The aim is to be hailed on together by some ofthe aspects of the concept. The concept of triteness of evil unsettles the professionals we areand promotes awareness of our responsibility and of a questioning requirement. We can hurtunwittingly, with the confident feeling of being in line with our mission, our duty to an ordinary practice. There is, in this concept, a call to think oneself, the other and the action. Theaim of this article is to allow any healthcare provider to approach the inherent ethical tensionin certain banal clinical situation and to identify some ethical or philosophical benchmarks tothink about it. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.