The Research On Hannah Arendt’s Political Judgment Theory

Arendt’s political judgment theory is unique, because she did not follow thetraditional understanding and considered political judgment theory as a aesthetic theoryaccording to their way. She believed that political judgment is the most political activityin our mental faculties. During her life，she was trying to find out a possibility of a newthe political philosophy. Her developed the spirit of Aristotle’s pronesis and Kant’saesthetic judgment to two kind of judgment——the judgment by actors and thejudgment by bystanders. The judgment by actors and the judgment by bystanders reflectthe difference between the two periods of Arendt political ideology, but the latter doesnot mean the negation of the former, the two are united in the reconstruction of thepublic domain.First chapter introduces the background and significance of the topic, reviewsthe research status and related topics, and list the content of the study and researchmethods of the article. The second chapter elaborates the human condition from the twoaspects of positive life and contemplative life and describes the Existential politicaloutlook of Hannah Arendt briefly. After that, we can make a preliminary understandingof Arendt’s political judgment thought. The Third chapter discusses the theoretical basisof the political judgment theory——Aristotle’s pronesis and Kant’s aesthetic judgment.By considering the relationship between actors and bystanders, I make a brief analysisof the two judgment mode——judgment by actors and the judgment by bystanders. last,I demonstrated the possibility and the effectiveness of the judging process from someimportant concepts like common sense, imagination, extended spirit and examples tomake a further understanding of “thinking politicaliy”. The forth chapter pondersArendt’s theory of political judgment by the perspetive of relationship between theoryand practice and the formation of new ethical theory, trying to explain the significanceand shortcoming of Arendt’s political judgment theory.