An introduction to critical theory of Axel Honneth

Abstract

It’s intended here to present the main points of the new form of Critical Theory that Axel Honneth tries to build. Habermas disciple, Honneth diagnoses problems in his predecessors, both Habermas and Adorno and Horkheimer, and tries to build his thought from the problems bring historically by Critical Theory. Since Critique of power, through Struggle for recognition and Suffering from indeterminacy, arriving in Reification, capital thinker's works, the route of the author tries to explain and address the deficits of this tradition, and provide the normative basis of the paradigm of communication, and indicate, with that, the theoretical and conceptual necessary basement for a free and emancipated social praxis. This paper aims to introduce the reader to central philosophical aspects of the Honneth’s work, especially in Struggle for recognition and Suffering from indeterminacy, and also discuss some issues considered problematic in this work.