Philosophy

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Dr. Samantha Fazekas

Dr. Samantha Fazekas

Teaching Fellow, Philosophy


Biography

Samantha is a Teaching Fellow in Political Philosophy. She has taught at the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany; Dublin City University; and Trinity College Dublin. Her research areas are in political and moral philosophy, Kantian and post-Kantian philosophy. She completed her Ph.D. at TCD in 2023. Her thesis justifies Hannah Arendt's appropriation of Immanuel Kant's aesthetic reflective judgment as a means for political decision-making.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Samantha Fazekas, This philosophical theory can help you stop taking criticism personally, 2023, -Miscellaneous, 2023, URL
  • Samantha Fazekas, Hannah Arendt's Unwritten Theory of Political Judgment, Trinity College Dublin, 2023Thesis

Research Expertise

Samantha's research interests are in political and moral philosophy, Kantian and post-Kantian philosophy. She is currently preparing her Ph.D. thesis for publication. Her thesis develops a new reading of Hannah Arendt's interpretation of Immanuel Kant's aesthetic reflective judgment. The aim of this project is to justify Arendt's claim that she brings Kant's unwritten political philosophy to fruition by appropriating reflective judgment as a model for political judgment. The novelty of this project is that it situates reflective judgment in Arendt's political thought - without compromising the integrity of Kant's aesthetics or Arendt's conception of politics. By developing an Arendtian phenomenology of privacy, this project offers a new reading of Arendt's public-private distinction. It has the potential to square the formality of reflective judgment with the publicity and worldliness of political judgment. Samantha is also preparing two articles (invited for publication). The first article argues against the claim that Arendt should have turned to Aristotle's phronesis (practical wisdom) rather than Kant's reflective judgment as a model for political judgment. The second article demonstrates that Arendt's conception of political freedom is not only actualized through political speech and action, but also through the reflective activity of political judgment.

Recognition

  • Junior Scholar Research Grant (Boston College) 04/2016
  • Alice M. Lage Memorial Scholarship (Loyola University Maryland) 08/2014-05/2015
  • DAAD Doctoral Research Scholarship 10/2021-10/2022
  • Academy of American Poets Prize 05/2015
  • Catholic Studies Research Grant (Loyola University Maryland) 04/2014
  • Academic Achievement Award (Loyola University Maryland) 10/2011 and 10/2014
  • Postgraduate Teaching Award (Trinity College Dublin) 04/2019
  • Lonergan Scholarship (Boston College) 08/2015-05/2017
  • Ayd Philosophy Medal (Loyola University Maryland) 05/2015
  • National Fellows Summer Research Grant (Loyola University Maryland) 04/2014
  • Presidential Scholarship (Loyola University Maryland) 08/2011-05/2015
  • Postgraduate Research Studentship (Trinity College Dublin) 08/2018-08/2021
  • Dermot McAleese Teaching Award (Trinity College Dublin) 09/2019
  • Travel Grant (Trinity College Dublin Trust) 11/2023