Recognition and Freedom brings together leading international scholars to discuss the political thought of the social philosopher Axel Honneth. In addition to providing an introduction to Honneth’s political thought, the book examines topics such as education, solidarity, multiculturalism, agonism, neo-liberalism and the ways in which these issues challenge core aspects of liberal democracies. The book includes an interview with Axel Honneth in the light of his most recent work, Freedom’s Right, as well as an essay by him previously unpublished in English.
Odin Lysaker holds a PhD in Philosophy and is Associate Professor at the University of Agder, Norway. He has published particularly in ethics and political philosophy, including Humanity in Times of Crisis: Hannah Arendt’s Political Existentialism (in Guttorm Fløistad (ed.), Philosophy of Justice, Springer, 2014).
Jonas Jakobsen is Assistant professor of Philosophy at the University of Tromsø, Norway. He has published several articles on social and political philosophy, including Education, Recognition, and the Sami People of Norway (in Niedrig & Ydesen: Writing Postcolonial Histories of Intercultural Education, Peter Lang, 2011).
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Recognition and Freedom in Axel Honneth’s Political Thought Odin Lysaker and Jonas Jakobsen
1.Education and the Democratic Public Sphere: A Neglected Chapter of Political Philosophy Axel Honneth
2.Recognition, Education, and Civic Equality: Uncovering the Normative Ideals of the Welfare State Simon Laumann Jørgensen
3.Recognition, Solidarity, and the Politics of Esteem: Basic Income as a Test Case Arto Laitinen
4.Sociality, Anti-Sociality, and Social Work: Political Imagination in a Social Democratic Welfare State in Decline Heikki Ikäheimo
5.Dimensions of Freedom: Axel Honneth’s Critique of Liberalism Morten Raffnsøe-Møller
6.Surplus of Indeterminacy: A Hegelian Critique of Neoliberalism Arne Johan Vetlesen
7.Democratic Disagreement and Embodied Dignity: The Moral Grammar of Political Conflicts Odin Lysaker
8.Contextualising Religious Pain: Saba Mahmood, Axel Honneth, and the Danish Cartoons Jonas Jakobsen
9.Inquiries into Identity: The Struggle for Recognition in Erik Allardt’s Study of Ethnic Conflicts Arvi-Antti Särkelä
10.Ultimate Values and Immanent Critique: On Axel Honneth’s Das Recht der Freiheit and Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma Carl-Göran Heidegren
11.Writing History from a Normative Point of View: The Reconstructive Method in Axel Honneth’s Das Recht der Freiheit Jørgen Pedersen
12.Freedom, Solidarity, and Democracy: An Interview with Axel Honneth Morten Raffnsøe-Møller
Index
All interested social and political philosophy, Critical Theory and the work of Axel Honneth