Debating Critical Theory

Engagements with Axel Honneth

Edited by Julia Christ, Kristina Lepold, Daniel Loick Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Titus Stahl Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands

Publication date:

13 October 2020

Length of book:

330 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

229x161mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781786614780

Axel Honneth is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary critical theorists. His oeuvre, which spans more than four decades of writing—from his early engagement with critique in the Frankfurt School tradition to his theory of recognition and the latest discussions of freedom in modern ethical life and the question of socialism—has been enormously influential in the shaping of current critical theory and beyond. Bringing together leading scholars in contemporary social and political philosophy, this authoritative book takes the central themes of Honneth’s work as a starting point for debating the present and future of critical theory as a form of socially grounded philosophy that is geared toward analyzing and critiquing society.

Honneth’s writings revolve around five key themes: critique, recognition, freedom, progress, and socialism. His arguments engaging with each of these themes have substantially advanced current debates in critical theory and social and political philosophy more generally. The contributing authors take on these five themes and use them as a springboard to structure their discussion of the future of critical theory in our contemporary moment.

Julia Christ, Kristina Lepold, Daniel Loick, Titus Stahl: Debating Critical Theory. An Introduction

Section I: Critique
Chapter 1: Raymond Geuss: Realism, Yet Again
Chapter 2: Rainer Forst: Kantian Republicanism vs. the Neo-Republican Machine: The Meaning and Practice of Political Autonomy
Chapter 3: Sally Haslanger: Taking a Stand: Second-Order Social Pathologies or First-Order Critique
Chapter 4: Martin Saar: Immanent Normativity and the Fact of Domination: Notes on “Immanent Critique”
Chapter 5: Didier Fassin: Moral Economy – A Critical Reappraisal
Chapter 6: Robin Celikates: Radical Civility. Social Struggles and the Domestication of Dissent

Section II: Recognition
Chapter 7: Frederick Neuhouser: Rousseau on the Nature of Social Inequality
Chapter 8: Martin Hartmann: Repressive Empathy? A Plea for Contextualization
Chapter 9: Joel Whitebook: On Human Sociability

Section III: Social Freedom
Chapter 10: Bruno Karsenti: Ethical Life and Anomy. From Social Philosophy to Sociology of the State
Chapter 11: David Miller: Socialism and the Nation-State
Chapter 12: Seyla Benhabib: Hegel’s Concept of the Person and International Human Rights
Chapter 13: Beate Roessler: Fashioning Our Selves? On understanding and criticizing the digitized society
Chapter 14: Christoph Menke: The Crisis of Liberalism: The Dialectic of Politics and Police

Section IV: Progress
Chapter 15: Philip Kitcher: John Dewey Goes to Frankfurt. Pragmatism, Critical Theory, and the Invisibility of Moral/Social Problems
Chapter 16: Christopher F. Zurn: Political Progress: Piecemeal, Pragmatic, And Processual

Chapter 17: Amy Allen: Psychoanalysis and the Critique of Progress

If Critical Theory and the so-called Frankfurt School should not be understood as a school with a headmaster, but rather as a cooperative project and a context of discussion, this volume is an impressive proof of both: the cooperative character of the enterprise as well as the immense philosophical inspiration emanating from Axel Honneth’s work. It is the open-mindedness of his philosophical attitude that results in the most productive encounter and ensures that the theoretical enterprise aimed at conceptualizing and criticizing the societies we live in will continue on in so many voices.