Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy

Arendt Hannah

Hannah Arendt's last philosophical work was an intended three-part project entitled "The Life of the Mind". Unfortunately, Arendt lived to complete only the first two parts, "Thinking and Willing". Of the third, "Judging", only the title page, with epigraphs from Cato and Goethe, was found after her death. As the titles suggest, Arendt conceived of her work as roughly parallel to the three "Critiques" of Immanuel Kant. In fact, while she began work on "The Life of the Mind", Arendt lectured on "Kant's Political Philosophy", using the "Critique of Judgment" as her main text. The present volume brings Arendt's notes for these lectures together with other of her texts on the topic of judging and provides important clues to the likely direction of Arendt's thinking in this area.

About the Author

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a German-American political theorist. Her works deal with the nature of power, and the subjects of politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. She was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, and Northwestern University. In the spring of 1959, she became the first woman lecturer at Princeton. Arendt also taught at the University of Chicago, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and, the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University. Arendt was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964.

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