Receptivity and judgment

Abstract

Both judgment and receptivity are important to optimal politics, and both are important to each other. In making this argument, I use an Arendtian conception of judgment and take mindfulness as an example of receptivity. I argue that receptivity offers a needed dimension to addressing the puzzles of what makes Arendtian judgment possible, and that judgment provides a necessary complement to receptivity for action in the world. Exploring this complementary relation between judgment and receptivity also reveals a surprising similarity between what each offers to the practice of politics, in particular to freedom and the possibility of transformation. At the same time, I argue, these important contributions to politics are best understood and realized if judgment and receptivity are thought of as distinct forms of relating to the world.

Keywords: judgment; mindfulness; receptivity; Arendt; political transformation; Kant; enlarged mentality; perspective; freedom

(Published: 23 December 2011)

Citation: Ethics & Global Politics, Vol. 4, No. 4, 2011, pp. 231-254. DOI: 10.3402/egp.v4i4.15116