Redognition: Philosophy and Politics

In: European journal of political theory: EJPT, Band 8, Heft 1, S. 7-12

Abstract

In 1992 two hugely influential works on recognition were published. These are Charles Taylor's essay 'The Politics of Recognition' & Axel Honneth's more overtly philosophical The Struggle for Recognition. Both works inaugurated new paradigms for assessing injustice in contemporary liberal democracies, & both were the subject of much commentary, criticism & debate -- the theory of recognition being revised & reconstructed in the process. These debates, however, largely advanced along parallel lines, producing little constructive interplay between them. Taylor's work is central to the communitarian critique of AngloAmerican liberalism, while Honneth's is firmly located within the critical theory tradition. The aims of this collection are to compare these two frameworks of recognition, to explore the relationship between the philosophical theory of recognition & its political aims, & to take an overview of the debate just over 15 years on. Here we briefly explain the main protagonists' concerns & outline some key themes which animate the examinations of the philosophy & politics of recognition which follow. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright 2008.]