THE The power between recognition and justification

a debate between Axel Honneth and Rainer Forst

Abstract

The aim is to debate the issue of power in contemporary critical theory. To this end, two theories will be problematized: Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition and Rainer Forst’s theory of justification. Initially, Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition will be presented in general terms, presenting just a few moments of his reformulations around recognition, in order to later problematize the possible forms of arbitrary domination that it entails, that is, the asymmetry of power relations of which Honneth is criticized. In a second moment, Forst’s theory of justification will be mobilized, in relation to recognition, with the concept of the author's noumenal power, inserted in his theory of justification, to verify whether, before the relations of recognition are claimed, the power to justify the demands, in the philosopher’s reading, is a priority. The guiding principle of this article is to think about what the deficit in relation to power might be with regard to the theory of recognition and how a critical theory of justification can serve as a complementary response, in order to better understand this power deficit in Honnethian theory..