Reclaiming judgement. Arendt and the ethical transformation of pedagogy in AI-mediated education

This paper examines the ethical transformation of pedagogy in the age of artificial intelligence through the framework of Hannah Arendt’s concept of judgement. It argues that algorithmic systems may erode teachers’ and students’ capacity for moral agency, fostering instead what Arendt diagnosed as thoughtlessness. Drawing on postdigital theory, the paper shows how automated decision-making increasingly replaces reflective deliberation with procedural compliance. Against this, the paper proposes treating algorithmic outputs as a starting point for ethical reflection. It concludes that reclaiming judgement is essential to sustaining education as a domain of moral engagement.