Freedom's Right

Axel Honneth is professor of philosophy at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt and the Jack C. Weinstein Professor for the Humanities at Columbia University. His books include Pathologies of Reason: On the Legacy of Critical Theory; The Struggle for Recognition: The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts; Philosophical Interventions in the Unfinished Project of Enlightenment; and The Critique of Power: Reflective Stages in a Critical Social Theory.

Freedom's Right is a stunningly ambitious exploration of the ways in which major institutions of Western society promote freedom and at the same time present obstacles to its realization. Axel Honneth defends a compelling conception of social freedom grounded in mutual recognition, which he employs both to comprehend contemporary social reality and to reveal its deficiencies. Characterized by an extraordinary richness of detail, this book's aim is a provocative mix of reconciliation and critique. No social philosopher has attempted a project of this scope since Hegel composed the Philosophy of Right almost two hundred years ago. -- Frederick Neuhouser, Barnard College Breaking with the dominant style of contemporary political philosophy, Axel Honneth demonstrates how fruitful it can be to develop a theory of social justice not simply by appealing to common beliefs and intuitions but more fundamentally by understanding the characteristic institutions of modern society. Freedom's Right is a brilliant work by one of today's leading philosophers. -- Charles Larmore, Brown University Honneth has provided us with a central reference point for future debates on the nature of modernity, freedom, justice, and the social world. -- Arto Laitinen Review of Politics

• Foreword Introduction: A Theory of Justice as an Analysis of Society Part I. Historical Background: The Right to Freedom 1. Negative Freedom and the Social Contract 2. Reflexive Freedom and Its Conception of Justice 3. Social Freedom and the Doctrine of Ethical Life Transition: The Idea of Democratic Ethical Life Part II. The Possibility of Freedom 4. Legal Freedom 5. Moral Freedom Part III. The Reality of Freedom 6. Social Freedom Notes Index