From communicative rationality to the ethics of recognition - in the horizon of critical transcendence in Habermas and Honneth

Abstract

This paper addresses one of the most significant problematics in contemporary social philosophy: the transition from the model of communicative rationality established by Jürgen Habermas to the theory of recognition developed by his successor Axel Honneth, representative of the third generation of the Frankfurt School. The study seeks to uncover the nature of the relationship between these two philosophical projects: does Honneth represent an extension and deepening of Habermas's project, or does he constitute an epistemic rupture and a genuine critical transcendence? The paper draws on the works of Arab philosopher Al-Nasser Abdellawy, who contributed to diagnosing the limits and horizons of communicative rationality in the Arab context. The study concludes that the theory of recognition does not reject communicative rationality but rather completes and corrects it by restoring the emotional and conflictual dimensions in the formation of identity and the construction of social justice.