Helga Varden, hvarden@illinois.edu
Thur, 4:00-6:50 PM
This course focuses on two major works of Immanuel Kant—the Doctrine of Right in The Metaphysics of Morals and the Critique of the Power of Judgment—and two works of Hannah Arendt— The Human Condition and Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy. Arendt was deeply inspired by Kant as she developed her political ideas, and especially by his Critique of Judgment. Unfortunately, however, Arendt died before she wrote the last part of Life of the Mind, where she was going to show us how to use Kant’s Critique of Judgment to develop an Arendtian political theory. In comparing Kant and Arendt’s political philosophies, one main question we will address throughout this course is how a Kant- and Arendt-inspired political philosopher today—what we can call a “Karendtian” political philosopher—can draw upon from both as they develop their own political philosophies.