Between Past and Future – Man as Judge

Abstract

The article focuses on the presentation of Arendt’s theory of judgment with particular emphasis on its function of merging the past with the future. The author enumerates two parabolas as motifs of judgement: the first being Kafka’s, which defines judgement as an interstice in time, the second Pythagorean – referring to that which has been lost. By treating the present time as the domain of judgement – after the age of antiquity, during which reason was triumphant, and of the Middle Ages, when willpower was in command - Arendt seems to convince us that breaking the linear continuity of our intellectual tradition is an opportunity. In the era of globalization, in which the end of great narratives has been announced, man is particularly called upon to pass judgement on himself and on (the beauty of) the reality surrounding him (amor mundi). His role as an arbitrator becomes even more necessary when tradition, religion or authority no longer offer clear guidelines for thinking (the famous Arendtian motto Denken ohne Geländer). The potentially understood ability of generating one’s own judging criteria is, according to the author of the article, the emanation of man’s divine element and testimony of his political (non) engagement in matters of evil.