Normative Rekonstruktion und Kritik

In his last monograph Das Recht der Freiheit Axel Honneth establishes the method of normative reconstruction as a basis for immanent critique. With this method he tries to encounter the tendency of existing theories of justice to abandon societal reality. The article demonstrates that this attempt is based on a theoretical framework which construes a normativistically biased picture of society. In the end the mode of critique Honneth presents also abandons reality, just in another way.