Recognition and Ambivalence

350 Pages·2021·1.531 MB·English

by  Heikki Ikäheimo, Kristina Lepold, Titus Stahl, Judith Butler, Axel Honneth, Amy Allen, Robin Celikates, Jean-Philippe Deranty, Lois McNay, David Owen

R E C O G N I T I O N
A N D
A M B I VA L E N C E
Judith Butler,
Axel Honneth,
Amy Allen, Robin Celikates,
Jean-Philippe Deranty, Heikki Ikäheimo,
Kristina Lepold, Lois McNay,
David Owen, Titus Stahl

EDITED BY
Heikki Ikäheimo, Kristina Lepold, and Titus Stahl
RECOGNITION
AND
AMBIVALENCE
NEW DIRECTIONS IN CRITICAL THEORY
NEW DIRECTIONS IN CRITICAL THEORY
Amy Allen, General Editor
New Directions in Critical Theory presents outstanding classic and contem-
porary texts in the tradition of critical social theory, broadly construed. The
series aims to renew and advance the program of critical social theory, with
a particular focus on theorizing contemporary struggles around gender, race,
sexuality, class, and globalization and their complex interconnections.
For a complete list of titles, see page 339
RECOGNITION
AND
AMBIVALENCE
JUDITH BUTLER,
AXEL HONNETH,
AMY ALLEN,
ROBIN CELIKATES,
JEAN-PHILIPPE DERANTY,
HEIKKI IKÄHEIMO,
KRISTINA LEPOLD,
LOIS MCNAY,
DAVID OWEN,
TITUS STAHL
EDITED BY
HEIKKI IKÄHEIMO,
KRISTINA LEPOLD, AND
TITUS STAHL
Columbia University Press New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup . columbia. edu
Copyright © 2021 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Ikäheimo, Heikki, editor. | Lepold, Kristina, editor. |
Stahl, Titus, 1979– editor.
Title: Recognition and ambivalence / edited by Heikki Ikäheimo, Kristina
Lepold, and Titus Stahl.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2021. |
Series: New directions in critical theory | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020046693 (print) | LCCN 2020046694 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780231177603 (hardback) | ISBN 9780231177610 (trade paperback) |
ISBN 9780231544214 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Recognition (Philosophy) | Honneth, Axel, 1949– |
Butler, Judith, 1956–
Classification: LCC B105.R23 R39 2021 (print) | LCC B105.R23 (ebook) |
DDC 128/.3— dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020046693
LC ebook record available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020046694
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid- free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Chang Jae Lee
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Heikki Ikäheimo, Kristina Lepold, and Titus Stahl
1 Recognition Between Power and Normativity:
A Hegelian Critique of Judith Butler 21
Axel Honneth
2 Recognition and the Social Bond:
A Response to Axel Honneth 31
Judith Butler
3 Intelligibility and Authority in Recognition:
A Reply 55
Axel Honneth
4 Recognition and Mediation:
A Second Reply to Axel Honneth 61
Judith Butler
5 Historicizing Recognition:
From Ontology to Teleology 69
Lois McNay
vi (cid:89) Contents
6 Recognizing Ambivalence: Honneth, Butler, and
Philosophical Anthropology 99
Amy Allen
7 How Should We Understand the Ambivalence of
Recognition? Revisiting the Link Between Recognition and
Subjection in the Works of Althusser and Butler 129
Kristina Lepold
8 Recognition, Constitutive Domination,
and Emancipation 161
Titus Stahl
9 Return to Reification: An Attempt at Systematization 191
Heikki Ikäheimo
10 Negativity in Recognition: Post- Freudian Legacies
in Contemporary Critical Theory 223
Jean- Philippe Deranty
11 Beyond Needs: Recognition, Conflict, and
the Limits of Institutionalization 257
Robin Celikates
12 Freedom, Equality, and Struggles of Recognition:
Tully, Rancière, and the Agonistic Reorientation 293
David Owen
Contributors 321
Index 325
RECOGNITION
AND
AMBIVALENCE

INTRODUCTION
Heikki Ikäheimo, Kristina Lepold,
and Titus Stahl
Few concepts in contemporary social and political
thought have attracted as widespread an interest as the
concept of recognition. Much of its appeal seems to stem
from the fact that it builds on an experience with which virtu-
ally everyone is familiar, namely the experience of depending on
others in one’s relation to oneself, for better or for worse. This
experience takes many forms. Being ignored by a friend at a party
hurts when we find out that she was aware of our presence all
along. Receiving praise from a colleague for work we invested
time and effort in makes us feel proud and happy. Being sub-
jected to extended background checks at an airport makes us
question how welcome we are in the country in question. Exam-
ples such as these illustrate that others are involved in shaping
our lives and self-p erceptions through the way they see and treat
us. It is precisely this connection between self and other that the
concept of recognition promises to shed light on.
The current interest in recognition— a concept that can be
found in the works of a variety of thinkers, but which is, at least
in the tradition of European philosophy, most commonly asso-
ciated with Hegel—i s largely thanks to the theoretical interven-
tions of Charles Taylor and Axel Honneth at the beginning of