What are the implications of this approach for moral theory? How can we ground ethics in such a materialist and dialectical theory of society? Hegel argues that the world is often not what it appears to be, but that its truth lies hidden behind immediate existence. The essence is a ‘background’ that ‘constitutes the truth of being’ (Hegel 1812/1833, 337). For Hegel, not everything that exists is actual. Actuality is rather an existence that corresponds to its essence, the truth of a phenomenon: ‘Actuality is the unity, become immediate, of essence and existence, or of what is inner and what is outer’ (Hegel 1830, §142). In contrast to poststructuralism, Honneth does not give up on the notions of essence and alienation, but rather seeks to ground them in society itself as immanent standard of ethical judgement that allows principles that can transcend dominative relations towards a just, good and fair society. He finds this the immanent essence of society in the social recognition that all humans – already as children – experience in their socialisation. Love, rights and solidarity are the basic forms of recognition that as a unity for him forms moral human essence. Reification means social relations that forget the need for recognition and thereby humiliate and disrespect others.
5.4.3. Social Production and Co-Production
The missing link in Honneth’s theory is social production. Humans not just mutually recognise themselves in order to exist, they together produce the social world in processes of co-operation. No individual and no society can exist and survive without a basic level of co-operation, i.e. the solidary working together of humans in order to achieve certain goals. A club of egoistic individuals that only compete and do not aim to collaborate will sooner or later end up in constant warfare, violence, and hatred. It will not be socially sustainable, but rather destroy itself. This thought experiment shows that social coproduction of the world is society’s essence. If we apply Hegel’s dialectical logic of essence and existence as moral principle, then this means that co-operation as the principle of social co-production of society is society’s essence. In relations of domination and exploitation, humans encounter each other negatively so that one person or group tries to benefit themselves at the expense of others. The result is that certain humans are reified, they are reduced to the status of instruments and things that serve particularistic interests.
Axel Honneth shows the importance of the logic of essence and of the social as the essence of society and humans. Morally recognising each other is however just one form of co-producing the world. In processes of communication, humans can encounter each other and co-produce joint understandings of the world. Recognition is the cultural process of co-producing the world. Humans however also need to engage in collaborative work that creates use-values in the economy and in political debates and governance that creates collective decisions in the political system. If social systems take on a co-operative character at a whole and eliminate domination, then they correspond to their essence. This essence is morally grounded within society itself. It is an immanent standard of morality. A true economy is therefore commonly owned and controlled, a true political system commonly governed, and a true cultural system – one that fosters mutual understanding and recognition. The ethical implication is that capitalism, dictatorships, and fundamentalisms are false forms of economic, political and cultural interaction.
The Internet, Social Media and Axel Honneth’s Interpretation of Georg Lukács’ Theory
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