The Dignity of Doxa: Politicizing Kant’s Aesthetic Judgment

Tchir, Trevor

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-53438-1_6

Trevor Tchir³

Part of the book series: International Political Theory ((IPoT))

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Abstract

Chapter 6 studies Arendt’s adaptation of Kant’s theory of aesthetic judgment as a model for political judgment, without the guidance of absolute standards. The responsibility to judge the unprecedented arises from the appearance of totalitarianism, which dissolves the reliability of common ethical standards, yet introduces acts whose novelty must still be understood. Reflective judgment serves as an ethical limitation to agonistic action and is crucial to non-violent, responsible ‘world’ building, given the condition of plurality. I proceed to question whether the purpose of a community of spectators is to reach rational consensus and the convergence of opinion, or whether judgment is an end in itself as an affirmation of freedom and plurality. Finally, I illuminate the similarity between Kant’s ‘genius’ and Arendt’s ‘daimon.’

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Notes

1.
Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism, 475–78.
2.
Ibid., 476–77.
3.
Ibid., 351–52.
4.
Ibid., 465.
5.
Arendt, “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship” in Responsibility and Judgment, 24.
6.
Arendt, “Truth and Politics,” 238.
7.
Bilsky, 266–67.
8.
Arendt, “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” 20.
9.
Curtis, 134.
10.
Riley, 390.
11.
Beiner, “Rereading Hannah Arendt’s Kant Lectures,” 93–94.
12.
Ricoeur, The Just, 101.
13.
Arendt, “Crisis in Culture” in Between Past and Future, 221.
14.
Beiner, “Hannah Arendt on Judging,” 92.
15.
Arendt, “Truth and Politics,” 262.
16.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 5.
17.
Ibid., 56.
18.
Bernstein, 231.
19.
Marshall, 370.
20.
Ibid., 377.
21.
Ibid.
22.
Ibid.
23.
Passerin d’Entreves, 104.
24.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 31.
25.
Ibid., 159–60.
26.
Ibid., 45–46.
27.
Arendt, “Crisis in Culture,” 223.
28.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 40.
29.
Ibid., 42.
30.
Ibid., 80.
31.
Ibid., 66–68.
32.
Ibid., 80.
33.
Ibid., 43.
34.
Ibid.
35.
Ibid., 44.
36.
Ibid., 72.
37.
Ibid., 73.
38.
Ibid., 70.
39.
Arendt, “Crisis in Culture,” 210.
40.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 55.
41.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 70.
42.
Ibid., 69.
43.
Ricoeur, The Just, 96–98.
44.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 170–71.
45.
Ibid., 63–67.
46.
Ibid., 32–33.
47.
Ibid., 161–62.
48.
Ibid., 175.
49.
Ibid., 153.
50.
Beiner, “Rereading Hannah Arendt’s Kant Lectures,” 98.
51.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 43.
52.
Arendt, “Truth and Politics,” 241.
53.
Disch, “Please Sit Down,” 156.
54.
Benhabib, 191.
55.
Fraser, 171.
56.
Zerilli, “We Feel Our Freedom,” 172–73.
57.
Young, 206.
58.
Ibid., 211, 214.
59.
Ibid., 215.
60.
Ibid., 219.
61.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 173.
62.
Beiner, “Rereading Hannah Arendt’s Kant Lectures,” 96–97.
63.
Arendt, “Crisis in Culture,” 221.
64.
Ibid.
65.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 74.
66.
Fraser, 171.
67.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 40.
68.
Fraser, 172.
69.
Ibid., 175.
70.
Disch, “Please Sit Down,” 148.
71.
Habermas, 184–85.
72.
Disch, “Please Sit Down,” 151–54.
73.
Marshall, 384.
74.
Ibid., 383.
75.
Ibid., 372.
76.
Benhabib, 199–203.
77.
Villa, Arendt and Heidegger, 70–71.
78.
Ibid., 165.
79.
Beiner, “Hannah Arendt on Judging,” 143.
80.
Curtis, 142.
81.
Markell, “The Rule of the People,” 12–13.
82.
Zerilli, “We Feel Our Freedom,” 159–61.
83.
Ibid., 162–63.
84.
Ibid., 171.
85.
Ibid., 179.
86.
Zerilli, “Value Pluralism and the Problem of Judgment,” 8.
87.
Ibid., 25.
88.
Ibid., 9.
89.
Cascardi, 107–14.
90.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 101–10.
91.
Ibid., 129.
92.
Ibid., 130.
93.
Ibid., 111.
94.
Ibid., 109.
95.
Ibid., 121.
96.
Fraser, 168.
97.
Ibid., 169.
98.
Ibid., 170.
99.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 77. My emphasis.
100.
Ibid., 44.
101.
Ibid., 15.
102.
Ibid., 19–20.
103.
Ibid., 48–49.
104.
Ibid., 50.
105.
Bernstein, 233.
106.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 52–53.
107.
Ibid., 48.
108.
Beiner, “Hannah Arendt on Judging,” 141.
109.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 15.
110.
Ibid., 60.
111.
Ibid., 75.
112.
Ibid.
113.
Ibid., 76.
114.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 50.
115.
Ibid., 67–68.
116.
Ibid., 30.
117.
Ricoeur, The Just, 96–98.
118.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 76.
119.
Ibid., 85.
120.
Ibid., 77.
121.
Arendt, “Truth and Politics,” 248.
122.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 81–85.
123.
Arendt, “Truth and Politics,” 247–48.
124.
Ricoeur, The Just, 100.
125.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 188–90.
126.
Ibid., 190.
127.
Arendt, Human Condition, 179–80.
128.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 63.
129.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 197–205.
130.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 62–63.
131.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 190–93.
132.
Ibid., 206.
133.
Arendt, Lectures on Kant, 63.
134.
Kant, Critique of Judgment, 197–202.
135.
Zerilli, “We Feel Our Freedom,” 181.
136.
Arendt, Human Condition, 179–80. I explore the significance of the ‘daimon’ figure most fully in Chapter 3.
137.
Kristeva, 74.
138.
Arendt, “Crisis in Culture,” 223.
139.
Ibid.
140.
Ibid., 225–26.

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Department of Law and Politics, Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
Trevor Tchir

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Tchir, T. (2017). The Dignity of Doxa: Politicizing Kant’s Aesthetic Judgment. In: Hannah Arendt's Theory of Political Action. International Political Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53438-1_6

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53438-1_6
Published: 16 April 2017
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-53437-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-53438-1
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