Dr Samantha Fazekas, published October 2024
Abstract:
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In this article, I explore Hannah Arendt’s unspoken decision to leave Aristotle’s phronesis (practical wisdom) behind when developing her account of political judgment.
By exposing the shortcomings of phronesis, I show that Immanuel Kant’s aesthetic reflective judgment offers Arendt precisely what practical wisdom lacks. I argue that enlarged mentality assures the plurality, publicity, and intersubjective validity required for political judgment.
This leads me to the conclusion that appealing to reflective judgment does not exacerbate the existing tension between the spectator and the actor. Instead, enlarged mentality provides a way to reconcile these two roles in a way that is consistent with Arendt’s thought.