Recognition, disrecognition and legitimacy

This article discusses Axel Honneth’s recent theory of recognition, as exposed in his book Freedom’s Right (2001). The argument defended here is that Honneth’s approach does not apprehend the normative implications of political conflicts, for it relies on what some critics have called normative history. Against that approach, this paper defends a model of social theory that is not committed to normative presuppositions of analysis. Rather, it seeks to understand how political struggles strive for normative authority. As an illustration of forms of recognition that are alternative to the ones Honneth calls normative, the paper builds on an example from Brazilian society.