Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy

Hannah Arendt's last philosophical work was an intended three-part project entitledThe Life of the Mind. Unfortunately, Arendt lived to complete only the first two parts,ThinkingandWilling. 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 threeCritiquesof Immanuel Kant. In fact, while she began work onThe Life of the Mind, Arendt lectured on "Kant's Political Philosophy," using theCritique of Judgmentas 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.

Ronald Beiner is professor of political science at the University of Toronto and the author of Political Judgment, also published by the University of Chicago Press.