From reciprocal recognition to a society that is properly ‘social’: on Axel Honneth's recent work

Luiz Gustavo da Cunha de Souza

doi:10.15448/1984-7289.2017.3.27853

Authors

Luiz Gustavo da Cunha de Souza Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1323-8347

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-7289.2017.3.27853

Keywords:

Reciprocal recognition. Institutional intersubjectivity. Social freedom. Socialism. Struggle for recognition.

Abstract

This paper addresses Axel Honneth's recent endeavors to defend his theory of justice, broadly described in Freedom's right (2011) as an analysis of society. The paper begins by exposing Honneth's model as a theory of institutional intersubjectivity rather than a theory of the struggle for recognition. This model, however, was subject to criticism due to its supposed acceptance of the capitalistic market economy as a social order. In order to defend it from such objections, Honneth (2016) exposes the normative core of socialist ideals as a version of social freedom. Finally, he presents a distinction between two forms of political intervention: an internal and an external struggle for recognition – and asserts the advantages of the former.

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Author Biography

Luiz Gustavo da Cunha de Souza, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Departamento de Sociologia e Ciência Política da UFSC

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