Honneth Freedom's Right

The Social Foundations of Democratic Life
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7456-8004-0
Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 450 Seiten, E-Book

The theory of justice is one of the most intensely debated areas ofcontemporary philosophy. Most theories of justice, however, haveonly attained their high level of justification at great cost. Byfocusing on purely normative, abstract principles, they becomedetached from the sphere that constitutes their "field ofapplication" - namely, social reality.
Axel Honneth proposes a different approach. He seeks to derive thecurrently definitive criteria of social justice directly from thenormative claims that have developed within Western liberaldemocratic societies. These criteria and these claims together makeup what he terms "democratic ethical life": a system ofmorally legitimate norms that are not only legally anchored, butalso institutionally established.
Honneth justifies this far-reaching endeavour by demonstrating thatall essential spheres of action in Western societies share a singlefeature, as they all claim to realize a specific aspect ofindividual freedom. In the spirit of Hegel's Philosophy ofRight and guided by the theory of recognition, Honneth showshow principles of individual freedom are generated which constitutethe standard of justice in various concrete social spheres:personal relationships, economic activity in the market, and thepolitical public sphere. Honneth seeks thereby to realize a veryambitious aim: to renew the theory of justice as an analysis ofsociety.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Honneth, Axel

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: A Theory of Justice as an Analysis of Society
A. Historical Background: The Right to Freedom
1. Negative Freedom and the Social Contract
2. Reflexive Freedom and Its Conception of Justice
3. Social Freedom and the Doctrine of Ethical Life
Transition: The Idea of Democratic Ethical Life
B. The Possibility of Freedom
1. Legal Freedom
2. Moral Freedom
C. The Reality of Freedom
3. Social Freedom
Notes
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Axel Honneth is Professor of Philosophy at the Johann WolfgangGoethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, and at ColumbiaUniversity, New York. His many books in English include TheStruggle for Recognition and Disrespect: The NormativeFoundations of Critical Theory.