CONSECUTIO RERUM

Roberto Finelli

Università degli Studi RomaTre
roberto.finelli@uniroma3.it

 
 
 
Abstract: The essay intends to present critical considerations on some limits and fragilities of the thought of Axel Honneth and Rahel Jaeggi, respectively. The Author maintains that the abandonment of the dialectical tradition, which is fully apparent in both authors, produces remarkable theoretical problems. Their strong exposure to the influence of American pragmatism and the acceptance, especially by Jaeggi, of Helmuth Plessner’s anthropology of indeterminacy, leads to an excessive emphasis on intersubjective relations and to a too simplified view of the infrasubjective complexity of human individuality. The result … Continua a leggere

Rahel Jaeggi

Humboldt Universität, Berlin
rahel.jaeggi@staff.hu-berlin.de

 
 
 
Abstract: Considering “pathologies of work” in the context of a historico-normative reconstruction of the meaning of work as social cooperation, the paper intends to establish a connection between a number of different problems. These include the continued existence of exploitation and alienation as well as the precariousness of work and long-term unemployment. Borrowing a phrase from Hegel, work is conceived as “sharing, participating or partaking in the universal resources of society”, where “resources” include wealth as well as competencies. e above-mentioned pathologies of work can then be understood as different … Continua a leggere

Martin Saar

Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
saar@em.uni-frankfurt.de

 
 
 
Abstract: Foucault’s analysis of power is still a key topic in contemporary social-political discussions. Insofar as power is inherent in every field of society, it permeates and shapes every social relationship. Consequently, freedom, the possibility of action and subjectivity can no longer be conceived as independent of power and opposed to it, but rather they turn out to be intrinsically connected to power. The aim of this article is to show that Foucault’s analysis and critique of power (understood as a theory of the “multiple forms” and of the … Continua a leggere

Arvi Särkelä

University of Lucerne
arvi.saerkelae@unilu.ch

Arto Laitinen

University of Tampere, UTA
arto.laitinen@uta.fi

 
 
 
Abstract: Axel Honneth has revitalized the notion of “social pathology” as a critical concept for social philosophy and Critical Theory; he has even defined the task of social philosophy in terms of pathology diagnosis and that of Critical Theory as a diagnosis and therapy of social pathology. Social philosophy is then oriented towards a “deeper” layer of reality, a “higher” order of wrongs or the “society itself”. This level, which marks the jurisdiction of a distinctively social philosophy, would not be reached by … Continua a leggere

Corrado Piroddi

University of Jyväskylä / University of Tampere
copirodd@student.jyu.fi

 
 
 
Abstract: The main aim of the paper is to illustrate the distinctive features of the Finnish school of critical theory and social philosophy. In this respect, it will provide a concise description of the philosophical work of some of its members: Onni Hirvonen, Heikki Ikäheimo, Arto Laitinen and Arvi Särkelä. In the first part, we will try to describe the ways these scholars have reinterpreted Axel Honneth’s paradigm of recognition. In the second part, we will clarify how the Finnish theoreticians have discussed Honneth’s reflections on … Continua a leggere

Emmanuel Renault

Université Paris-X Nanterre
e.renault@u-paris10.fr

 
 
 
Abstract: In the first generation of the Frankfurt School, critical theory was promoting a strong interconnection between social critique and knowledge of the social world. Just as Marx considered that a critique of capitalism was impossible without a systematic knowledge of its laws, transformations and contradictions, so too Horkheimer and Adorno were convinced that social critique should be grounded on social theory. It is simply a fact that in contemporary critical theory, such a conviction does not play a role anymore. Critical theory has not only subjected itself to the … Continua a leggere

Jean-Philippe Deranty

Macquarie University, Sydney
jp.deranty@mq.edu.au

 
 
 
Abstract: This paper attempts to accomplish two related tasks: a genealogical, exegetical one and aprogrammatic one. The genealogical reconstruction of Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition serves the aim of making a few propositions for the continuation of the project of a critical theory of society. The first task is guided by the purpose of highlighting the materialist background against which Axel Honneth’s ethics of recognition grew. The beginnings of the theory of recognition lie in the assumption that historical materialism could be salvaged if it was re-grounded in anthropological materialism. … Continua a leggere

Marco Solinas

Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa
marco.solinas@santannapisa.it

 
 
 
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to show that Honneth’s philosophy of history is teleological in a narrow sense. This teleological character is problematic for the theory of the struggle for recognition, for the conception of history as such, and for the methodology of the normative reconstruction. In particular, the teleological conception gives to the theory of recognition a historical form that points out a unilateral character. Furthermore, the teleological neo-Hegelian methodology of normative reconstruction seems to adopt a too stark trust in the progress of human societies … Continua a leggere

Giorgio Fazio

Università di Roma “La Sapienza”
giorgiofazio77@gmail.com

 
 
 
Abstract:The article reconstructs Axel Honneth’s attempt to reformulate the original model of immanent critique of the first generation of Frankfurt’s School. Moving from the lesson of Habermas, Honneth clarified the socio-theoretical, philosophical and political problems that underlied this model of social criticism, but he also defended it as a valid alternative to other models of social criticism, which are prevalent today. The attempt to reformulate an immanent critique of society leads in Freedom’s Right into the innovative methodology of normative reconstruction, on which is based the ambitious program … Continua a leggere

Luca Micaloni

Università degli Studi RomaTre / Istituto italiano per gli studi filosofici
luca.micaloni@gmail.com

 
 
 
Abstract: This article offers a critical reconstruction of Axel Honneth’s arguments for an immanent critique of labour. After giving an outline of the significance, in regard to Honneth’s social theory, of two crucial distinctions set forth by Jürgen Habermas (namely, that between work and interaction and that between System and Lebenswelt), the Author shows how Honneth’s conception has shifted from the initial search for a ‘critical notion of labour’ focused on the characteristics of working activity to a critical view of … Continua a leggere

Federica Gregoratto

St. Gallen Universität
federica.gregoratto@unisg.ch

 
 
 
Abstract: It seems that the idea of social pathology has recently become unavoidable, within the Frankfurter tradition of critical theory, to pinpoint the wrongs of the socio-historical present. In this article, I would like to frame this new keyword not as an absolute negative, which has to be conceptually sharply separated from the healthy state, but rather as a negative that serves as disruptive, and thus critical and transformative element in a social order conceived of in organicistic terms. The following considerations rely mostly upon Adorno’s dialectical method, which urges … Continua a leggere

Matteo Gargani

Università degli Studi di Urbino, “Carlo Bo”
matteogargani22@gmail.com

 
 
 
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to deal with some aspects of Axel Honneth’s reading of reification faced in his 2005 Verdinglichung. Eine Anerkennungstheoretische Studie. To this purpose, I critically analyse the interpretation of Marx by Lukács as it is expressed in Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat. Secondly, I claim that Lukács’ fetishism analysis is grounded in a significant misunderstanding of the core issue of Marx’s Critique of political economy. Furthermore, I suggest that Honneth’s reification concept uncritically accepts, to some … Continua a leggere