NORMATIVITY IN CRITIQUE: HOW THE THEORY OF SUBJECTIVATION ADVANCES THE THEORY OF RECOGNITION

Abstract

Abstract: This paper provides an overview of the contemporary theories
on critique and normativity. By conceptualizing the tensions and convergences between critical and normative theory, contemporary scholars argue that critical theory is normative or at least possesses normative content. The focus is placed on the theory of recognition and the theory of
subjectivation. The paper asserts that the normative content of critical
theory — universal norms of justice — manifests as a critique of inequality
and injustice, a perspective prominently articulated in the contemporary theory of recognition developed by Axel Honneth, Franck Fischbach, and Emmanuel Renault. Both Axel Honneth and Judith Butler establish a closer link between Foucauldian critical theory and the objectives of the theory of recognition. Drawing on Foucault’s critique of subjugation, Butler highlights the connection between recognition and subjectivation, emphasizing the convergence of self-recognition and the constitution of the self as a subject. Thus, the theory of recognition, as a critical theory with normative content, finds its own foundations in Foucault’s critique of subjugation. In this context, the concept of subjectivation emerges as a central category in the further development of the theory of recognition.

Keywords: critique, subjection, subjectivation, normativity, reification, intersubjectivity, recognition, misrecognition.