The Psychic Life of Freedom: Social Pathology and its Symptoms

Arthur Bueno

doi:10.2298/FID1703475B

Authors

Arthur Bueno Universität Erfurt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1703475B

Keywords:

social pathology, recognition, freedom, suffering, social ontology, analogy, homology, Axel Honneth

Abstract

This paper discusses the relationship between Axel Honneth’s intersubjective theory of recognition and his political theory of democratic ethical life by addressing the potentials and difficulties attached to the notion of social pathology. Taking into account the diverse uses of this concept throughout Honneth’s oeuvre, it focuses initially on two of its formulations: first, the more recent discussions presented in “The Diseases of Society”, some of which can be read in continuity with arguments presented in Freedom’s Right; second, an
implicit conception of social pathology that can be found in Struggle for Recognition. These formulations involve contrastingly different premises with regard to phenomenological, methodological, social-ontological and etiological matters. I argue that such differences can be better grasped if one bears in mind two
distinctive ways of understanding the fundamental intuition at the basis of the notion of social pathology: either as an analogy or as a homology. By disclosing the actual or potential discrepancies between both conceptions, the aim is to outline the grounds on which they could be brought together within the framework of a comprehensive concept. With this purpose, I then critically examine a third conception of social pathology which was first presented in Suffering from Indeterminacy and later developed, with some restrictions, in Freedom’s Right. Finally, a definition of social pathology is suggested which can bring together the different contributions of each conception while avoiding their pitfalls.

References

Bueno, Arthur (2009), As paixões do homo oeconomicus: racionalidade e afeto na ação econômica cotidiana. Master thesis in Sociology. University of Sao Paulo.
Cooke, Maeve (2006), Re-Presenting the Good Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Durkheim, Émile (1975 [1887]), “La science positive de la morale en Allemagne”, in Victor Karady (ed.), Textes I. Paris: Minuit.
Durkheim, Émile (1960 [1914]), “The Dualism of Human Nature and its Social Conditions”, in Kurt Wolff (ed.), Émile Durkheim 1858-1957: A Collection of Essays. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio University Press.
Ehrenberg, Alain (2009 [1998]), The Weariness of the Self: Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age. Montreal: McGill Queen’s University Press.
Elster, Jon (2000), Strong Feelings: Emotion, Addiction, and Human Behavior. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Freyenhagen, Fabian (2015), “Honneth on Social Pathologies: A Critique”, Critical Horizons: A Journal of Philosophy and Social Theory 16(2): 131-152.
Hartmann, Martin and Honneth, Axel (2006 [2004]), “Paradoxes of capitalism”, Constellations 13(1): 41–58.
Honneth, Axel (1995 [1992]), The Struggle for Recognition: The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Honneth, Axel (2007 [1994]), “The Social Dynamics of Disrespect: On the Location of Critical Theory Today”, in Disrespect: The Normative Foundations of Critical Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Honneth, Axel (1996 [1994]), “Pathologies of the Social: The Past and Present of Social Philosophy”, in David Rasmussen (ed.), The Handbook of Critical Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.
Honneth, Axel (2000), “Pathologien der individuellen Freiheit. Hegels Zeitdiagnose und die Gegenwart”, in Hans Belting and Jörg Huber (eds.), Darstellung: Korrespondenz. Vienna/ New York: Springer.
Honneth, Axel (2001), Leiden an Unbestimmtheit. Eine Reaktualisierung der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie. Stuttgart: Reclam Verlag.
Honneth, Axel (2009 [2004]), “A Social Pathology of Reason: On the Intellectual Legacy of Critical Theory”, in Pathologies of Reason: On the Legacy of Critical Theory. New York: Columbia University Press.
Honneth, Axel (2004 [2002]), “Organized self-realization: Some paradoxes of contemporary individualization”, European Journal of Social Theory 7(4): 463–478.
Honneth, Axel (2011), “Rejoinder”, in Danielle Petherbridge (ed.), Axel Honneth: Critical Essays. Leiden: Brill.
Honneth, Axel (2014 [2011]), Freedom’s Right. The Social Foundations of Democratic Life. New York: Columbia University Press.
Honneth, Axel (2014), “The Diseases of Society: Approaching a Nearly Impossible Concept”, Social Research: An International Quarterly 81(3): 683-703.
Honneth, Axel (2015a), “Rejoinder”, Critical Horizons: A Journal of Philosophy and Social Theory 16(2): 204-226.
Honneth, Axel (2015b), Die Idee des Sozialismus: Versuch einer Aktualisierung. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
Laitinen, Arto (2015), “Social Pathologies, Reflexive Pathologies, and the Idea of Higher-Order Disorders”, Studies in Social and Political Thought 25: 44-65.
Laitinen, Arto, Särkelä, Arvi and Ikäheimo, Heikki (2015), “Pathologies of Recognition: An Introduction”, Studies in Social and Political Thought 25: 3-24.
Simmel, Georg (2011 [1907]), The Philosophy of Money. London: Routledge.
Simmel, Georg (1992 [1896]), “Das Geld in der modernen Cultur”, in Heinz-Jürgen Dahme and David Frisby (eds.), Georg Simmel Gesamtausgabe. Band 5: Aufsätze und Abhandlungen 1894 – 1900. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Whitehead, Alfred (2011 [1925]), Science and the Modern World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zurn, Christopher (2011), “Social Pathologies as Second-Order Disorders”, in Danielle Petherbridge (ed.), Axel Honneth: Critical Essays. Leiden: Brill.