Rethinking the normative content of critical theory : Marx, Habermas, and beyond / Bob Cannon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cannon, Bob, 1952-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marx, Karl, 1818-1883.

Marx, Karl.

Marxian economics.

Habermas, Jürgen.

Honneth, Axel, 1949-.

Honneth, Axel.

Critical theory.

Intersubjectivity.

Physical Description:

xiv, 211 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave, 2001.

Summary:

One of Marxism's chief failings is its dependence on trans-historical categories. Theorists such as Jurgen Habernas also fall short by restricting their critique to the cultural sphere. This book extends the reach of critical theory and its key idea of intersubjectivity to the economic system. The economy is a realm of morality that social movements influence in the course of their struggles.

Contents:

1 From Self-Constitution to Self-Objectification 11

The Kantian subject 12

Overcoming Kantian antinomies 14

Hegel's moral philosophy 16

Marx and self-objectifying labour 18

Marx's critique of Hegel's idealism 22

Epistemology and social critique 24

2 Marx's Critique of Political Economy versus his Critique of Capitalism 27

Production in general 30

The dual structure of the commodity 32

Self-objectifying labour and self-valorizing value 35

The fetish character of commodities and their secret 37

Does abstract labour work? 41

Objectification and fetishization 44

3 The Capitalization of Sociality and the Sociality of Exchange 49

(i) The sociality of labour 49

(ii) The sociality of use-values 55

(iii) George Simmel and the sociality of exchange 58

4 Marx, Morality and Exploitation 67

Natural versus social property rights 67

Exploitation and exchange 72

Capitalism and justice 74

Self-objectification and consent 77

Restoring the ethical content of self-constitution 80

Towards a normative account of exploitation 83

5 Communicative Action 91

From Marx to Lukacs 91

From Lukacs to Habermas 95

The uncoupling of system and lifeworld 98

The emergence of communicative reason 100

Discourse ethics and modernity 103

The 'universal' status of discourse ethics 109

Reification and judgement 113

6 Labour and Morality 117

A redemptive critique of Marx? 117

Towards a comprehensive account of communicative reason 120

System and lifeworld interdependencies 124

The limits of discourse ethics 127

The promise of discourse ethics 131

7 Struggles for Moral Redemption 135

The moral content of labour 136

Struggles for recognition 139

Three steps to heaven? 142

Money, markets and morality 147

Beyond Hegel? 151

Pathology and social critique 153

8 Struggles for Social Welfare 157

Rethinking the normative ground of critical theory 159

Rethinking intersubjectivity 162

Labour movement struggles 164

Welfare economics and the re-normatization of value 168

Rethinking the welfare state 173

The New Right and the de-normatization of value 177.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-206) and index.

ISBN:

0333918096

OCLC:

45068568