A Study On Honneth's Thought Of Recognition

Alex Honneth is a professor at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt School, Germany. He is a noted philosopher of sociology and his core belief Thought of Recognition now occupies a central place in contemporary debates in social and political theory. The recognition concept is derived mainly from G.W.F. Hegel's early social philosophical works, but is supplemented by Foucault's right theory and Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action. Honneth's mix of these is the offset for his critical theory. Then, he uses Mead's social psychology along with the naturalistic formulation of young Hegel's recognition theory, that further definite the relation of recognition structure. In addition, Honneth also demonstrate the relationship of recognition and defiance, defiance and struggle which achieve the turning of recognition theory for Frankfurt School.This paper will focus on the thought of recognition and related concepts, beginning with origin of Honneth's recognition, combining with history and actuality, theory and practice, explaining the main concept of recognition thought of Honneth, concentrating on Marx's critical theory. Honneth's guiding thought has five aspects. Honneth think that critical theory should focus more on socialize problems by summarizing that theory. Then, he modifies own theory by Hegel's recognition thought, and demonstrates the struggle is internal motivation of all moral issues. Furthermore, he proposes that three recognition formats among love, law and comity and farther expresses the longing of moral life, that means establishing the ethical rules by the struggle. In conclusion, the explanation of Honneth for recognition is a splendid beginning of critical theory in Frankfurt school and the progress in academic and political. However, there are also several deficiencies and limitations, we should take dialectic methods to study Honneth's thought, maximizing its benefits for our society.