The I in We (PDF)

In this volume Axel Honneth deepens and develops his highly
influential theory of recognition, showing how it enables us both
to rethink the concept of justice and to offer a compelling account
of the relationship between social reproduction and individual
identity formation.

Drawing on his reassessment of Hegel's practical philosophy,
Honneth argues that our conception of social justice should be
redirected from a preoccupation with the principles of distributing
goods to a focus on the measures for creating symmetrical relations
of recognition. This theoretical reorientation has far-reaching
implications for the theory of justice, as it obliges this theory
to engage directly with problems concerning the organization of
work and with the ideologies that stabilize relations of
domination.

In the final part of this volume Honneth shows how the theory of
recognition provides a fruitful and illuminating way of exploring
the relation between social reproduction and identity formation.
Rather than seeing groups as regressive social forms that threaten
the autonomy of the individual, Honneth argues that the
'I' is dependent on forms of social recognition
embodied in groups, since neither self-respect nor self-esteem can
be maintained without the supportive experience of practising
shared values in the group.

This important new book by one of the leading social philosophers
of our time will be of great interest to students and scholars in
philosophy, sociology, politics and the humanities and social
sciences generally.