Virtual Reading Group

What We're Reading Next

Beginning Friday, June 12th, we'll begin reading Responsibility and Judgment, Hannah Arendt's indispensable investigation into some of the most troubling and important issues of our time.

Responsibility and Judgment gathers together unpublished writings from the last decade of Arendt’s life, where she addresses fundamental questions and concerns about the nature of evil and the making of moral choices. At the heart of the book is a profound ethical investigation, “Some Questions of Moral Philosophy,” in which Arendt confronts the inadequacy of traditional moral “truths” as standards to judge what we are capable of doing and examines anew our ability to distinguish good from evil and right from wrong. We also see how Arendt comes to understand that alongside the radical evil she had addressed in earlier analyses of totalitarianism, there exists a more pernicious evil, independent of political ideology, whose execution is limitless when the perpetrator feels no remorse and can forget his acts as soon as they are committed.

EDITION INFORMATION:
Title: Responsibility and Judgment
Publisher: Schocken
Published: 2005
ISBN9780805211627
Pages: 336

FAQs about the VRG

• We send out a reminder email every Monday with the VRG Zoom link. Please be sure to check your Spam or Promotions folders and make sure The Hannah Arendt Center is an allowed sender.
• The Zoom link for the current book is the same every week. We will change the Zoom link with each new book we read, so please be sure your membership is up-to-date to ensure there are no interruptions in your participation.
• We open the Zoom meeting at 1:00 pm EST/EDT. You will be in a waiting room until then.
• Please watch for time changes in the US in the spring and fall, which are different from those in other countries.
• Don't worry if you miss a Zoom meeting: we post all of our VRG session recordings on our YouTube channel the following week.
• We also post edited versions of the VRG session on our podcast, Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz, which is available on all major podcast platforms.

• The purpose of the group is to better understand Arendt’s work
• Participants attend in the spirit of inquiry, respect and goodwill
• Questions and comments should be succinct
• Please mute your mic unless speaking, to minimize background noise, feedback, or disruptions to the flow of the conversation
• Please be considerate of others' opinions and perspectives

Participation is Free for HAC Members and Bard Students

If you're not a member yet, join the Hannah Arendt Center and click "yes" when asked if you'd like to participate. Once you're signed up, you'll receive emails with all the information you need to attend the upcoming VRG session. All sessions are recorded and made available to members on our Youtube channel.

In the VRG but want more?

The Hannah Arendt Center Dialogue Project gathers smaller groups of readers to further explore and discuss texts from the Virtual Reading Group. Participation in the VRG is free for HAC members.