Abstract:
This thesis examines the work of Axel Honneth, focusing on how the neo- Hegelian theory of justice Honneth presents in Freedom’s Right (2014) and The Idea of Socialism (2017) might be useful to social democracy. In the thesis, I argue that Honneth’s theory requires a more stable philosophical grounding, but that this could be accomplished by discarding some elements of Freedom’s Right and instead drawing on elements in Honneth’s other writings which go into more detail on how and why human beings can only exercise freedom together. Having discussed the social democratic tradition which Honneth unfortunately did not engage with in Freedom’s Right (2014) and The Idea of Socialism (2017), I then outline how the reframed Honnethian theory can be utilised as a new foundation for a social democratic ideology. I argue that Honneth’s theory of justice should be read as part of a larger theory of the human, ethical form of life, and that the political philosophical aspect thereof yields the ideal of a social democratic form of life.