Hannah Arendt's Unwritten Chapter on Judging with Samantha Fazekas | Bonus Episode

Roger Berkowitz speaks with Samantha Fazekas about her book Hannah Arendt’s Unwritten Chapter on Judging (De Gruyter Brill, 2025). Fazekas argues that judging became central for Arendt as she confronted unprecedented political events like World War II, the Holocaust, and the Eichmann trial, which “explode” inherited moral and political categories. They discuss Arendt’s use of Kant’s aesthetic reflective judgment—subjective yet claiming universal validity—as a model for political judgment, emphasizing enlarged mentality, representative thinking, and public communicability. Judging, they argue, helps build a shared world through debate even without consensus. Fazekas also addresses the spectator–actor relation, and her claim that a “non-privative” privacy is necessary for thinking, judging, and meaningful action.

Samantha Fazekas was a teaching fellow for three years in political philosophy at Trinity, and is now a visiting researcher at the University of Marburg, Germany, splitting her time between the United States, Germany and Dublin. Hannah Arendt's Unwritten Chapter on Judging was her doctoral dissertation.

Our next read is Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition. Join us here on the podcast beginning September 11th, or become a member of the Arendt Center to join the Virtual Reading Group and attend the live recordings!

ABOUT:

Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt.

New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975).

THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER:

The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual space for passionate, uncensored, and nonpartisan thinking that reframes and deepens the fundamental questions facing our nation and our world. Become a member and enjoy several benefits including live access to our Virtual Reading Group that takes place most Fridays, and upon which this podcast is based: https://hac.bard.edu/membership/

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