Hannah Arendt's Unwritten Theory of Political Judgment

Abstract

This project develops a new reading of Hannah Arendt’s interpretation of Immanuel Kant’s aesthetic reflective judgment. The aim of this project is to justify Arendt’s claim that she brings Kant’s unwritten political philosophy to fruition by appropriating reflective judgment as a model for political judgment. The novelty of this project is that it situates reflective judgment in Arendt’s political thought – without compromising the integrity of Kant’s aesthetics or Arendt’s conception of politics. By developing an Arendtian phenomenology of privacy, this project offers a new reading of Arendt’s public-private distinction. It has the potential to square the formality of reflective judgment with the publicity and worldliness of political judgment.