Recognition: A Chapter in the History of European Ideas (The Seeley Lectures)

The idea that we are mutually dependent on the recognition of our peers is at least as old as modernity. Across Europe, this idea has been understood in different ways from the very beginning, according to each country's different cultural and political conditions. This stimulating study explores the complex history and multiple associations of the idea of 'Recognition' in Britain, France and Germany. Demonstrating the role of 'recognition' in the production of important political ideas, Axel Honneth explores how our dependence on the recognition of others is sometimes viewed as the source of all modern, egalitarian morality, sometimes as a means for fostering socially beneficial behavior, and sometimes as a threat to 'true' individuality. By exploring this fundamental concept in our modern political and social self-understanding, Honneth thus offers an alternative view of the philosophical discourse of modernity.--Provided by publisher "This study began with an invitation by the Cambridge Centre of Political Thought to hold the biennial John Robert Seeley Lectures at the University of Cambridge in May 2017. Admittedly I was rather intimidated by the enormous reputation of this institution as a melting pot of intellectual history, so I chose the path of caution and decided to focus on a subject that clearly belongs to the history of ideas, and yet still is a subject about which I could claim a certain measure of theoretical authority. I planned to venture into the arena of the history of political thought, while still keeping to familiar philosophical ground. Thus arose the idea for my Seeley Lectures and for this book. Just as the so-called Cambridge School and the German "history of concepts" [Begriffsgeschichte] have managed to reconstruct the complicated and conflict-laden history of several key concepts in our political selfunderstanding, thereby providing insight into the historical origin of major democratic ideas, I will use the modest tools at my disposal to do the same for another idea that has become relatively significant: recognition. In the following five chapters I will attempt to uncover the historical roots of an idea we now take for granted: the idea that relations between subjects are defined by mutual dependence on esteem or recognition"-- Provided by publisher The idea that we are mutually dependent on the recognition of our peers is perceived in different ways throughout the world, according to different cultural and political conditions. This study explores the complex history of 'Recognition' in Britain, France and Germany and its place in modern political and social self-understanding.