Recognition theory and contemporary French moral and political philosophy

Reopening the dialogue

Miriam Bankovsky, Alice Le Goff

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2024
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526183781
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The revival of recognition theory has brought new energy to critical theory. In general terms, recognition theory aims to critically evaluate social structures against a standard of social freedom identified with norms of interaction which are freely recognised by all parties. Until now, attention has primarily focused on the categories and forms of recognition theory. However, the influence of contemporary French theory upon the development of theories of recognition has not yet received the consideration it merits. This collection outlines the current state of recognition theory, studies the impact of French theory, and uses French thought to identity aspects of the recognitive process which are often overlooked. Exploring French accounts of agonistic identity construction, vulnerability, power, ethical obligation and reflexive theory construction, this book supports the intentions of critical theory with heightened attentiveness to oppression in all of its forms.

Table of contents

• Front matter
• Contents
• Preface
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• PART I: French contributions to recognition theory
• Chapter 1 Deepening critical theory: French contributions to theories of recognition
• Chapter 2 The relevance of contemporary French philosophy for a theory of recognition: an interview
• PART II: Agonistic identity construction
• Chapter 3 Impossible recognition: Lacan, Butler, Žižek
• Chapter 4 The politics of suffering and recognition: Foucault contra Honneth
• Chapter 5 Sartre and Honneth on conflict and recognition
• Chapter 6 Tully, Foucault and agonistic struggles over recognition
• PART III: Embodiment and vulnerability
• Chapter 7 The theory of social action in Merleau-Ponty and Honneth
• Chapter 8 Between gender and subjectivity: Iris Marion Young on the phenomenology of lived experience
• PART IV: Systematic oppression and the productivity of power
• Chapter 9 Conflicts of recognition and critical sociology
• Chapter 10 Systematic misrecognition and the practice of critique: Bourdieu, Boltanski and the role of critical theory
• PART V: Justice-to-come: questioning equality and the presumption of finality
• Chapter 11 Habermas and Derrida on recognising the other
• Chapter 12 Honneth, Lyotard, Levinas
• Chapter 13 Justice-to-come in the work of Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser
• References
• Index