The objective of this paper is to explain why certain authors - both popular and academic - are making a mistake when they attribute obligations to uncoordinated groups of persons, and to argue that it is particularly unhelpful to make this mistake given the prevalence of individuals faced with the difficult question of what morality requires of them in a situation in which there is a good they can bring about together with others, but not alone. I will defend two alter- natives to attributing obligations to uncoordinated groups. The first solution has us build better people, who will coordinate their actions willingly and spontane- ously when the occasion arises. The second solution has us build better groups, so that when the occasion arises, there is a framework in place for coordinating members into action.

Immanente Kritik: Elemente einer Theorie sozialer Praktiken

Article Open Access

ABSTRACT The article argues that Honneth’s idea of reconstructive critique represents a type of immanent critique. Starting from the objection raised by Rahel Jaeggi, who considers the reconstructive critique to be a genre of internal criticism devoid of any transformative negativity, it seeks to show, on the contrary, that Honneth’s notion of “surplus of validity” plays a role of transcendence within the historical reality, which could explain his understanding of reconstructive critique as immanent one. In the second part, the paper displays how Honneth applies this conception of critique to solve the division within Critical Theory, induced by Habermas’s use of the idea of rational reconstruction, which would have split off the tasks of founding the normative criteria and discovering immanently elements for the social transformation. In the third part, the category of surplus of validity is investigated in its function of enlightening possibilities of transformation following an “universal-particular dialectic”. In its final part, the paper addresses some conceptual difficulties in Honneth’s attempt to clarify the systematic value and philosophical meaning of the surplus of validity within the framework of normative reconstruction.

Reconstructive Critique as Immanent Critique: On the Notion of Surplus of Validity in Axel Honneth’s Theory of Recognition

The historical and critical theory of memory constellations addresses two challenges in cultural memory studies: the detachment of memories from socio-historical contexts and the risk of critical concepts becoming dogmatic. Instead of imposing a memory concept top-down, memory constellations analyse cultural memories from the bottom-up by triangulating these with their historical precedents and the social conditions that enable the memories to emerge. The tensions, conflicts and contradictions between memory, genealogy and social conditions enable a fundamentally historical critique. The description of the steelpan in Michael Anthony’s novella King of the Masquerade and wider societal as well as transnational dynamics reveals a memory war that can be described as a memory constellation of postcolonial nationalist remembrance.

Notes towards a historical, critical theory of memory constellations: Postcolonial nationalist memory in Michael Anthony’s King of the Masquerade

A Historical Comparison of Recognition

While philosophy has been defined as a critical endeavour since Plato, the critical potential of rhetoric has been mostly overlooked. In recent years, critique itself – as a means of enlightenment and emancipation – has come under attack. While there have been various attempts to renew and strengthen critical theory and practice, rhetoric has not yet played a part in these attempts. Addressing this lacuna, the article argues that rhetoric can function as a critical force within philosophy. The rhetorical perspective confronts the claim to rational discourse and universal knowledge with the contingency of philosophical languages, means of representation, and social practices. Moreover, it allows us to think of critique as an activity of a subject that is at the same time constituted and transformed by it. This opens up the possibility of a rhetorical philosophizing that meets its critical standards by taking into account both the conditions of its own speaking and what it must exclude as its ‘other’ in order to function.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/02632764231162046

Immanente Kritik: Elemente einer Theorie sozialer Praktiken

Citations

Article Open Access

Reconstructive Critique as Immanent Critique: On the Notion of Surplus of Validity in Axel Honneth’s Theory of Recognition

Notes towards a historical, critical theory of memory constellations: Postcolonial nationalist memory in Michael Anthony’s King of the Masquerade

A Historical Comparison of Recognition

Rhetoric as Critique: Towards a Rhetorical Philosophy

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