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Review of Politics. Mar2015, Vol. 77 Issue 2, 327-330.
European Journal of Philosophy
Aesthetic Freedom and Democratic Ethical Life: A Hegelian Account of the Relationship between Aesthetics and Democratic Politics (European Journal of Philosophy, 2018)2018 •
This paper presents a novel Hegelian view of the relationship between aesthetics and democratic politics. My account avoids the drawbacks associated with approaches, such as Rancière's, that reconceive all of the political in aesthetic terms or, like Rockhill's, reduce the aesthetic to art. Instead, I maintain that the aesthetic is best understood as a distinct recognition relationship of individual freedom. My argument proceeds by highlighting shortcomings of Honneth's account of democratic Sittlichkeit and then addressing these impasses by integrating aesthetic freedom into the picture. The first two steps of my argument concern the fact that the form of life outlined by Honneth aspires to be a form of free life, yet his account of democratic Sittlichkeit gives rise to two dimensions of unfreedom. The first problem of unfreedom pertains to the scope of freedom. The relationships of freedom incorporated into Honneth's account fail to turn given social roles into the subject matter of a sufficiently unrestricted practice of freedom. The second problem of freedom concerns conformism. In a final step, I complete my argument that Honneth's account is unsatisfactory and incomplete by showing that aesthetic freedom is socially valid and thus ought to form part of our accounts of democratic ethical life.
Studies in Social and Political Thought, vol 25, no 1-2, special issue on Pathologies of Recognition
Pathologies of Recognition: An Introduction2015 •
This special issue focuses on two central concepts in contemporary critical social theory: namely ‘recognition’ and ‘social pathology’. For defenders of a theory of recognition, adequate recognition is itself a key normative criterion for analysing social wrongs and pathologies which fall short of the ideal. For critics, the focus on recognition – even at its best – rather conceals social wrongs. While the contributors in this collection represent slightly different approaches, the general consensus amongst them is that recognition as such is a good ideal but like all good ideals it can go wrong in various ways and take pathological forms itself. In this introduction we focus first briefly on the concepts of recognition and social pathology, and finally present the papers of this special issue.
Critical Horizons
Is the Market a Sphere of Social Freedom?2015 •
In this paper I examine Axel Honneth’s normative reconstruction of the market as a sphere of social freedom in his 2014 book, Freedom’s Right. Honneth’s position is complex: on the one hand, he acknowledges that modern capitalist societies do not realise social freedom; on the other hand, he insists that the promise of social freedom is implicit in the market sphere. In fact, the latter explains why modern subjects have seen capitalism as legitimate. I will reconstruct Honneth’s conception of social freedom and investigate how it is realised in the sphere in which Honneth sees it most successfully at work, the sphere of interpersonal relations. I then move on to the sphere of the market economy and discuss two related problems of this view that stem from his interpretation of Hegel. Next, I consider Honneth’s method of “normative reconstruction” and his reconstructions of the sphere of consumption and, finally, the labour market. My conclusion will be that market institutions cannot realise social freedom, and that this insight should orient the philosophical direction of critical social theory.
“Hegel and Respect for Persons”. in The Roots of Respect. A Historic-Philosophical Itinerary, ed. by Giovanni Giorgini and Elena Irrera
Hegel and Respect for Persons2017 •
This paper is for a collection on the history of respect for persons. It tries to communicate what is original in Hegel's contribution, with the help of some interesting secondary literature (rather than try to make a very original or interesting own contribution to secondary literature). It discusses Hegel's theory of "abstract" respect for "abstract " personhood and its relation to the fuller, concrete account of human personhood. Hegel defines (abstract) personhood as an abstract, formal category with the help of his account of free will. For Hegel, personhood is defined in terms of powers, relations to self and to others. After analyzing what according to the first part of Philosophy of Right it is to (abstractly) respect someone as a person, the paper discusses the implications for private property and market. Then the paper turns to discuss pathologies of ideologies that stress these aspects only. Finally, the paper discusses the way in which Hegel's full social theory aims to overcome such pathological tendencies; most notably in his theory of Family and the State.
2015 •
Over the last two decades, Axel Honneth has written extensively on the notion of social pathology, presenting it as a distinctive critical resource of Frankfurt School Critical Theory, in which tradition he places himself, and as an alternative to the mainstream liberal approaches in political philosophy. In this paper, I review the developments of Honneth's writing on this notion and offer an immanent critique, with a particular focus on his recent major work Freedom's Right. Tracing the use of, and problems internal to, Honneth's concept of social pathology serves to demonstrate his increasing reformism. It also serves to catalogue some of the dead ends that Critical Theory should avoid in taking up the idea of social pathology. The implication is not that this idea should be dropped. Rather, the paper is undertaking the necessary step of clearing the ground for further progress to take place on the question of what role the idea of social pathology can and should play in Critical Theory. The paper is critical in nature (and relentlessly so), but ultimately serves a constructive purpose.
Philosophy & Social Criticism
From Hegel to Foucault and back? On Axel Honneth's Interpretation of Neoliberalism2019 •
The article is focused on the role that the question of neoliberalism plays in Axel Honneth’s work. The author aims to show that when Honneth tries to conceptualize the very nature of the neoliberal transformations, he is forced to abandon some of the presumptions that underlie the systematic approach developed in his most important work, Freedom’s Right. It seems to emerge from Honneth’s studies on neoliberalism, not only the difficulty of analysing the capitalist market economy as a sphere of social liberty, as presupposed in Freedom’s Right, but also a much less consensual and teleological image of contemporary societies – an image in which norms and values are always intertwined with mechanisms of power, social integration is always also based on the exercise of domination, force and ideology and the capitalist can also exist without a background of shared normative orientations. The author suggests finally that, in order to give a better account of the neoliberal transformations, one should rediscover the importance of the original Gramscian category of cultural and political hegemony.
Die Philosophie des Marktes – The Philosophy of the Market, ed. Hans-Christoph Schmidt am Busch (Felix Meiner Verlag,)
The Ends of Economic History: Alternative Teleologies and the Ambiguities of Normative Reconstruction2016 •
This paper critically evaluates institution reconstructing critique—the central methodological strategy employed by Axel Honneth in his latest book Freedom’s Right designed to articulate and justify the normative standards employed by a critical theory of the present. It begins by considering, at a general level, the promises and limits of three ideal-typical normative methodologies of social critique: first principles critique, intuition refining critique, and institution reconstructing critique. It then turns to the details of Honneth’s history and diagnosis of market spheres of society as one key example of institution reconstruction critique. This leads to a consideration of some challenges facing this kind of critique, paying particular attention to problems posed by alternative reconstructions of the same data. It argues, in particular, that there is a troubling indeterminacy in this reconstruction, since alternative teleologies yield substantively different normative analyses of capitalism, and hence substantively different social critiques. In conclusion, the paper suggests some methodological remedies which might need to be adopted in order to make good on the promise of institution reconstructing critique while avoiding some of its most challenging problems.
International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
'Honneth, Axel' in James Wright (ed.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences2014 •
Axel Honneth is the leading light of the current, third generation of Critical Theorists. He has sought to re-found a critical theory of society on a revivified version of Hegel’s idealist philosophy, and, in particular, on the idea of recognition which he believes lies at its heart. According to Honneth’s theory, there are three types of institutions– the family, law and the market – in which three distinctive forms of recognition – love, respect and esteem – may be experienced. For him, social justice is achieved to the extent to which all individuals have an opportunity to receive these various types of recognition in practice.
Constellations
Social Freedom in a Global World: Axel Honneth's and Seyla Benhabib's reconsiderations of a Hegelian perspective on justice2019 •
2019 •
Philosophy & Social Criticism
Philosophy & Social Criticism. Special Issue: Symposium on Honneth - Realizing social freedom: A conversation on Honneth’s idea of socialism2019 •
From Marx to Hegel and Back: Capitalism, Critique, and Utopia
From Marx to Hegel and Back - Introduction2020 •
Philosophy and Social Criticism, 40:8 (2014): 743-756
Chad Kautzer, "Self-defensive subjectivity: The diagnosis of a social pathology," Philosophy and Social Criticism Vol. 40:8 (2014): 743–7562014 •
2018 •
van den Brink/Owen (ed.)
Recognition and Reconciliation. Actualized Agency in Hegel's Jena Phenomenology2007 •
Hegel Bulletin
Towards an Immanent Conception of Economic Agency: Or, A Speech on Metaphysics to its Cultured Despisers2017 •
Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy
Axel Honneth's Critical Pedagogy for a Renewed Socialist-Global Society2019 •
European Journal of Philosophy
Negative freedom or integrated domination? Adorno versus Honneth2019 •
Hegel Bulletin
Hegel and Honneth’s Theoretical Deficit: Education, Social Freedom, and the Institutions of Modern Life2017 •
Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory
Kautzer Review of Axel Honneth, Freedom's Right: The Social Foundations of Democratic Life, Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, Vol. 61, Issue 140 (September 2014): 102-1062014 •
2020 •
From Marx to Hegel and Back
Honneth's Democratic Sittlichkeit and Market Socialism2020 •
2016 •
Philosophy & Social Criticism
Real Utopias, Reciprocity and Concern for Others (On Marx's "Notes on James Mill")2016 •
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy
Broader contexts of non-domination: Pettit and Hegel on freedom and recognition. Draft2015 •
Philosophy & Society, Vol 28 No 3
The Psychic Life of Freedom: Social Pathology and its Symptoms2017 •
In Arto Laitinen and Anne Birgitta Pessi (eds.) Solidarity: Theory and Practice. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 126-154.
From Recognition to Solidarity: Universal Respect, Mutual Support, and Social Unity2014 •
European Journal of Philosophy
Towards a Conflict Theory of Recognition (with Georg Bertram, EJP, online first)2013 •