Civitas Porto Alegre v. 9 n. 3 p. 369-385 set.-dez. 2009 Afirmative action, recognition, self-respect Axel Honneth and the phenomenological deicit of critical theory Ação airmativa, reconhecimento, autorrespeito Axel Honneth e o déicit fenomenológico da teoria crítica Nythamar de Oliveira* Abstract: While liberal, redistributive views seek to correct and compensate for past injustices, by resorting to compensatory, procedural arguments for corrective justice, the recognition-based, communitarian arguments tend to promote by means of social movements and struggles for recognition a society free from prejudice and disrespect. In developing democratic societies such as Brazil, Axel Honneth’s contribution to the ongoing debates on Afirmative Action has been evoked, conirming that the dialectics of recognition does not merely seek a theoretical solution to the structural and economic inequalities that constitute some of their worst social pathologies, but allows for practices of self-respect and subjectivation that defy all technologies of social control, as pointed out in Foucault’s critique of power. The phenomenological deicit of critical theory consists thus in recasting the critique of power with a view to unveiling lifeworldly practices that resist systemic domination. Keywords: Afirmative action; Critical theory; Lifeworld; Recognition; Self-respect; Social technologies Resumo: Enquanto concepções liberais redistributivas buscam corrigir e compensar as injustiças do passado, recorrendo a argumentos procedimentais reparativos em favor da justiça corretiva, os argumentos comunitaristas embasados no reconhecimento tendem a promover por meio de movimentos e lutas sociais pelo reconhecimento uma sociedade livre de preconceitos e desrespeito. Em sociedades democráticas em desenvolvimento, como o Brasil, a contribuição de Axel Honneth para os debates em curso sobre a Ação Airmativa tem sido evocada, conirmando que a dialética do reconhecimento não se limita a procurar uma solução teórica para as desigualdades estruturais e econômicas * Associate Professor, Pontiical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. <nythamar@yahoo.com> A preliminary draft of this paper was presented at the international colloquium on “Inequalities in the World System: Political Science, Philosophy, Law”, held at Cebrap, São Paulo, on September 3-6, 2009. I am grateful to Marcos Nobre, Klaus-Gerd Giesen, Derrick Darby, Fouad Kalouche, and Yohan Arifin for their critical remarks.