Experiences, Struggles, and Recognition

Abstract

One of the strong theses defended by Axel Honneth's theory is to show that the motivation of the struggles for recognition arises from everyday experiences of denial of recognition, closely linking forms of moral disrespect with the production of social conflicts. I intend to present initially what I understand as the main contribution of Axel Honneth, namely, the attempt to link the place of subjects’ daily negative experiences with the grammar of social conflicts. Next, I expose some critics against the supposed psychological motivation of the struggles. Finally, I would like to propose that the reconstruction of negative experiences of disrespect should be linked to the studies of social movements. The political deficit of the concept of disrespect would be avoided if we could see how individuals engaged in social movements articulate their previous experiences to the motivation of the struggle for recognition.