More socialist than I? Similarities between Rawls' and Honneth's critical normativities for socialism

Abstract

I wish to compare and approximate Axel Honneth's and John Rawls normative foundations for socialism. To do so, I take as my starting point some features of Honneth's theory developed in his writing on Socialism as well as the very contrasts he establishes with Rawls's project. I unfold the comparison on two fronts: the first, dealing with the normative content of their notions of freedom, and the second, dealing with what Honneth and other authors of the critical theory tradition call the social or immanent basis of theories. From the first comparison, I conclude that the contrast established by Honneth between his normative ideal of social freedom and the normative ideal of freedom found in Rawls's political philosophy does not find support in an accurate analysis of the Rawlsian proposal. that Rawls's philosophy can also provide a critical normativity for socialism. From the second comparison, I conclude, despite Honneth's criticism that there is a deficiency of ‘practical-political’ in Rawls's philosophy, that it is possible to find in Rawls's work the three elements that Honneth considers necessary for a critical theory that does not want to be only a ‘purely normative’ critique of society.