Abstract:

The Judgment of Generations examines the connection between generational politics, political judgment and democratic theory. Generational politics includes both inter-generational conflict and struggle within a generation over its identity. Generational politics is often thought to arise from reactionary and/or rejectionist claims based upon merely parochial experience. Thus, it has been considered a destabilizing force and an impediment to good political judgment. Furthermore, despite a burgeoning literature on the place of other identity politics in modern representative democracies, contemporary political theory is largely silent about the normative and philosophical status of generational politics. This dissertation bridges this gap by examining these themes through the work of select figures in the history of political thought--Plato, Aristotle, Arendt. These theorists sympathize with elements of the standard account of generational politics (as destabilizing). However, they also offer insight into how a form of generational politics is necessary for the practice of political judgment, especially within democracy. This apparent contradiction can only be resolved by revising standard views about political judgment. Political judgment is typically conceived of as a practical knack that draws upon both extensive theoretical knowledge and insight gleaned, in part, from real-world experience. Moreover, standard conceptions tend to treat political judgment as a mere supplement to political knowledge, rather than a practice that is valuable in and for it-self. Finally, political judgment is often thought of as the virtue of rulers, one that is unavailable to the common citizen. This dissertation argues that this view reduces political judgment to an intellectual capacity, whereas taking the necessity of generational politics seriously requires that we also understand how political judgment is an inescapably deliberative endeavor that aims to make sense of a world not of our own making. By emphasizing the deliberative aspects of political judgment, the practice of political judgment is rendered more available to democratic citizens and more central to maintaining the health of a democratic political system. In so doing, this dissertation reveals the ways in which generational politics serves as an index for political judgment in the works under consideration.