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Ethics for dark times

This thesis argues that Hannah Arendt is correct to suggest that thinking enables judgment, even though Arendt never fully formulates this idea herself. I provide a critical reading of Arendts essay Thinking and Moral Considerations and of her series of lectures on Kants political philosophy. I argue that Arendts concept of impartiality can provide the bridge between the concepts of thinking and judging that is otherwise lacking in her account of these faculties. I argue that Arendts philosophy can be construed as an ethically relevant theory: despite the fact that Arendt offers no moral prescriptions, she describes a process of thinking through which ethical decisions can be made. Arendts work is therefore highly relevant as a critique of relativism, nihilism and the skeptical notion that judgments are arbitrary.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/1332
Date11 1900
CreatorsMacLeod, Damon
ContributorsBurch, Robert (Philosophy), Dudiak, Jeffrey (Philosophy), Welchman, Jennifer (Philosophy), Carmichael, Don (Political Science)
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format408962 bytes, application/pdf

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