Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The paper is organised into two sections. Section one comprises a reconstruction of Honneth?s ?moral grammar of social conflict?, and of his efforts at developing a distinct recognition-theoretic approach for a restatement of a more general critical social theory. I argue that, in keeping with his own aims, Honneth succeeds in sketching an alternative social ontology, and, as a consequence, is able to provide a form of intersubjectivist theory unlike any of the ones which have currency in the debate about a ?social turn? in IR theory. I conclude this section with a brief walk-through on three major objections to Honneth?s move, and (actual and possible) responses to those.The second part outlines how the recognition-theoretic formulation of a ?moral grammar of social conflict? would intersect with the constructivist literature on norms, identities and orders. In this context, the contours and merits of a critical approach begin to take shape, and are recommended for further debate