The theory of justice is one of the most intensely debated areas of contemporary philosophy. Most theories of justice, however, have only attained their high level of justification at great cost. By focusing on purely normative, abstract principles, they become detached from the sphere that constitutes their “field of application” - namely, social reality. Axel Honneth proposes a different approach. He seeks to derive the currently definitive criteria of social justice directly from the normative claims that have developed within Western (...) liberal democratic societies. These criteria and these claims together make up what he terms “democratic ethical life”: a system of morally legitimate norms that are not only legally anchored, but also institutionally established. Honneth justifies this far-reaching endeavour by demonstrating that all essential spheres of action in Western societies share a single feature, as they all claim to realize a specific aspect of individual freedom. In the spirit of Hegel’s _Philosophy of Right_ and guided by the theory of recognition, Honneth shows how principles of individual freedom are generated which constitute the standard of justice in various concrete social spheres: personal relationships, economic activity in the market, and the political public sphere. Honneth seeks thereby to realize a very ambitious aim: to renew the theory of justice as an analysis of society. (shrink)

Agnes Heller is one of the leading thinkers to come out of the tradition of critical theory. Her awesome intellectual range and output includes ethics, philosophical anthropology, political philosophy and a theory of modernity and its culture. Hungarian by birth, she was one of the best known dissident Marxists in central Europe in the 1960's and 1970's. Since her forced immigration she has held visiting lectureships all over the world and has been the Hannah Arendt Professor of Philosophy at the (...) New School in New York for the last twenty years. This introduction to her thought is ideal for all students of philosophy, political theory and sociology. Grumley explores Heller's early work, elaborating her relation to Lukacs and the evolution of her own version of Marxism. He examines the subsequent break with Marxism and the initial development of an alternative radical philosophy. Finally, he explains and assesses her mature reflective post-modernism, a perspective that is both sceptical and utopian, that upholds a critical humanist perspective just as it critiques contemporary democratic culture. (shrink)

This volume stages a debate between two philosophers, one North American, the other German, who hold different views of the relation of redistribution to ...

In the 1970s and early 1980s, a heated debate took place over the relationship between Marxism and feminism. In the current moment the perhaps more disturbing question arises: has feminism entered into a dangerous liaison with capitalism? The profound "restructuring" of the U. S. and world economy since the 1970s parallels the rise of the women's movement during the same period, and reveals some ideological and practical uses of this movement for capitalist interests at home and abroad. In particular, the (...) decline of the family wage and the abolition of welfare "as we know it" in the United States, and the use of microcredit and female labor in export processing zones in the "developing" world, both can draw upon feminist ideas, as can the U. S. government as it pursues its "war on terrorism." There is a kernel of truth in U. S. propaganda: feminism acts as a cultural solvent, as globalization erodes the traditions of patriarchy. The left must take on board the crucial contribution of feminist ideas and activism, as we contemplate a world where alternatives to capitalism have become devalued and de-legitimized. (shrink)