118 | Axel Honneth and the Ideal of Social Freedom

Listen to this episode from What's Left of Philosophy on Spotify. In this episode we discuss Axel Honneth’s Freedom’s Right: The Social Foundations of Democratic Life. As one of the most prominent representatives of the so-called ‘3rd generation’ of Frankfurt School critical theory, we ask whether Honneth’s notions of ‘normative reconstruction’ and ‘social freedom’ build constructively upon the legacies of critical theory or depart from them in a more liberal direction. Lillian reminds us that he has good answers to some of our more acerbic criticisms of his work, but we ultimately wonder about what critical theory has lost in its most recent iteration—one that, we think it’s clear, is far less antagonistic to capitalist society than its predecessors.GET YOUR TICKETS FOR THE LIVE SHOW HERE:https://link.dice.fm/J7acfdeb77d4leftofphilosophy.comReferences:Axel Honneth, Freedom’s Right: The Social Foundations of Democratic Life, trans. Joseph Ganahl (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014). Music:"Sorriso" by Monument Music | https://youtu.be/YR4AD4Qim3w?si=UNthWq28mZf9Wbcv“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com“My Space” by Overu |https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN