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Affirmative Action, Recognition, Self-Respect: Axel Honneth and the Phenomenological Deficit of Critical Theory

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Affirmative Action, Recognition, Self-Respect: Axel Honneth and the Phenomenological Deficit of Critical Theory
Affirmative action, recognition, self-respect
Axel Honneth and the phenomenological deficit of critical theory
Axel Honneth e o déficit fenomenológico da teoria crítica

Ação afirmativa, reconhecimento, autorrespeito
Nythamar de Oliveira*

Abstract: While liberal, redistributive views seek to correct and compensate for past injustices, by resorting to compensatory, procedural arguments for corrective justice, the recognition-based, communitarian arguments tend to promote by means of social movements and struggles for recognition a society free from prejudice and disrespect. In developing democratic societies such as Brazil, Axel Honneth’s contribution to the ongoing debates on Affirmative Action has been evoked, confirming that the dialectics of recognition does not merely seek a theoretical solution to the structural and economic inequalities that constitute some of their worst social pathologies, but allows for practices of self-respect and subjectivation that defy all technologies of social control, as pointed out in Foucault’s critique of power. The phenomenological deficit of critical theory consists thus in recasting the critique of power with a view to unveiling lifeworldly practices that resist systemic domination.
Keywords: Affirmative action; Critical theory; Lifeworld; Recognition; Self-respect; Social technologies

Resumo: Enquanto concepções liberais redistributivas buscam corrigir e compensar as injustiças do passado, recorrendo a argumentos procedimentais reparativos em favor da justiça corretiva, os argumentos comunitaristas embasados no reconhecimento tendem a promover por meio de movimentos e lutas sociais pelo reconhecimento uma sociedade livre de preconceitos e desrespeito. Em sociedades democráticas em desenvolvimento, como o Brasil, a contribuição de Axel Honneth para os debates em curso sobre a Ação Afirmativa tem sido evocada, confirmando que a dialética do reconhecimento não se limita a procurar uma solução teórica para as


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