Recognition and Power: A Symposium
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Dept. of Philosophy
March 13-15, 2003
Speakers (in order of appearance):
Robert B. Pippin, David Owen, Bert van den Brink, Heikki Ikäheimo,
Arto Laitinen, Beate Roessler, Lior Barshack, Iris Marion Young,
James Tully, Rainer Forst, Veit Bader, Anthony Laden, Axel
Honneth
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In contemporary social and political theory, the themes of recognition and power are widely discussed. Power, of course, is - and always has been - one of the central concepts in these disciplines. From Plato and Aristotle to Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx to Foucault and Habermas, the analysis of power has been a constitutive element of reflection on our social and political conditions. The debate on recognition is more recent. It has roots in the work of Hegel, G.H. Mead, Frantz Fanon, and Sartre, and has recently been put back on the agenda by authors such as Axel Honneth, Charles Taylor, James Tully, Nancy Fraser and Iris Marion Young.
The aim of this symposium is to link contemporary discussion on relations of recognition to the theoretical discourse on power relations in order to reflect critically on our understanding of these concepts and their relationship to one another. With respect to recognition, we can note that most authors understand relations of recognition in terms of an intersubjective dynamics of mutual trust, respect, and esteem. These relations are claimed to play a major role in processes of socialization, enculturation and individuation. The basic idea is that relations of recognition shape subject's sense of identity in two general respects. First, they introduce the subject to the multifaceted shared identities and standards of expectation within familial, social and political communities. Second, they open up the subject's inner world by enticing the subject to develop practical relations to self which guide their self-understanding and relations to others.
Recognition would not be one of the most debated terms in social and political theory if claims as to the misrecognition of individuals did not play a distinctive role in processes of modernization and emancipation. Struggles for recognition (Honneth) are social processes in which certain groups in society contest the predominant and, in their eyes, demeaning social standards of expectation and evaluation that ascribe to different members of society certain 'appropriate' roles, statuses or characteristics. Here, we can think both of officially sanctioned forms of unequal treatment of citizens (apartheid, sexism) and of more informal forms of misrecognition in everyday interaction concerning, for instance, the treatment of cultural minorities, the relation between the sexes, etc. Consequently, if we want to understand the dynamics by which relations of social, cultural, and political misrecognition are kept in place, an analysis of power relations seems necessary. For both official and more informal forms of misrecognition involve and articulate power relations. As the writings of Michel Foucault have made clear, power relations do not just throw up external limits to the sense of self, the intentions, and the external (negative) freedom of subjects. Rather, they co-shape these aspects of identity. And as authors such as Fanon, Young, Tully and Butler reflecting on the social construction of identity have demonstrated, the identity of those who do not have the power to co-shape the terms of their legal and social status can easily produce an internalized sense of their powerlessness, inferiority, and 'appropriate' place in the margins of society. Forms of misrecognition seem to be kept in place partly by this logic of the internalization of the image of oneself in the eyes of those who have the power to oppress.
Seen in this way, and accepting the historical contingency of the exact dynamics of power and recognition, it is fruitful to consider relations of power and recognition together in addressing the stabilization and reproduction of social relations and forms of practical identity. One might put it this way: power relations are integral to the maintenance of those institutional arrangements, shared identities, and standards of expectation that constitute society as a site of relations of both recognition and misrecognition, while relations of recognition and misrecognition are integral to the articulation and contestation of power relations.
Against this background, the speakers at the symposium will debate the interconnection of power and recognition with a special focus on 1) adequate conceptualization of the terms, 2.) philosophical traditions of thought on power and recognition in (modern) social and political philosophy, 3) subjectivity and individuation and 4) social and political freedom. In order to guarantee a lively and fruitful debate, authors from various theoretical traditions, such as discourse theory, poststructuralism, feminism, and liberalism have been invited.
In order to add extra cohesion to the symposium, the speakers have been invited to develop their theses in light of the perhaps most comprehensive theory of social and political recognition to date, i.e., the much discussed theory developed by Axel Honneth (participant in the conference) in his, The Struggle for Recognition: The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts (Polity, 1995). Interestingly enough, Honneth understands this work, and the 'social theory with normative content' it develops, as an answer to the question posed by his earlier work, The Critique of Power (MIT 1991), i.e., that any attempt to reflect on the analysis of power from within a liberal-democratic theory of freedom and equality 'has to rely on a concept of morally motivated struggle [for recognition].'
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Day 1: Thursday, March 13
Raadszaal Department of Law
Achter Sint Pieter 200
Utrecht
13.30 - 13.45: Willem van Reijen, Dean of Philosophy Utrecht: Word of welcome
I - Philosophical traditions: Agency between power and recognition
13.45-15.00:
Robert B. Pippin
(University of Chicago)
:
Recognition and reconciliation in Hegel's
Phenomenology: Succeeding as an agent
15.15-16.30: David Owen (University of Southampton) : Power, recognition, and agency in Nietzsche
16.45-18.00:
Bert van den Brink
(Utrecht University)
:
Damaged Life: Power and Recognition
in Early Critical Theory
Day 2: Friday, March 14
Raadszaal Department of Law
Achter Sint Pieter 200
Utrecht
II Social Philosophy: Recognition and Social Criticism
9.30-10.45: Heikki Ikäheimo & Arto Laitinen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) : Recognition and its Constitutive Role
11.00-12.15: Beate Roessler (University of Amsterdam) : Social criticism, power, and recognition
13.45-15.00: Marcus Düwell (Utrecht University) : Recognition and Power: Ethical Considerations
III - Social and political philosophy: Self and other in private and public spheres
15.15 - 16.30:
Lior Barshack
(Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Il)
:
The Holy Family: Recognition in public
and in private spheres
16.45 - 18.00: Iris Marion Young (University of Chicago) : The Recognition of Love's Labor
Day 3: Saturday, March 15
Academy Building
Utrecht University
Domplein 29
Utrecht
IV - Political philosophy: Recognition and Civic Cooperation
9.30 - 10.45:
James Tully
(University of Toronto)
:
Acknowledgement and civic freedom
11.00 - 12.15:
Rainer Forst
(Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main)
:
"To Tolerate Means to Insult" - Toleration, Recognition, and Emancipation
13.45 - 15.00:
Veit Bader
(University of Amsterdam)
:
Misrecognition, Power, and Democracy
15.15 - 16.30:
Anthony Laden
(University of Illinois)
:
Reasonable deliberation and
constructive social power
16.45 - 18.00:
Axel Honneth
(Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main)
:
Recognition as Ideology and Ethical Demand
18.00 - 19.00: Informal Reception
3. Registration and registration fees
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Students € 50,- (Utrecht University Students
free)
PhD Students € 100,-
All others € 150,-
(Utrecht University Students: Register as "Student/Cash". Sub comments: "Utrecht University")
Included in this price are coffee, tea, &
lunches during the whole symposium, as well as a drink at the
reception on Saturday.
In order to register, please fill in the form
below. As to payment, there are three possibilities. Either you
pay cash or with credit card at the time of you registration on
Thursday March 13. Or you deposit the sum due in:
Postbank Account 128693, SWIFT code: INGB NL 2A
Utrecht University, Dept. Philosophy
Heidelberglaan 8
3584 CS Utrecht
The Netherlands
After registration, you will receive a notice of confirmation.
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Unfortunately, we cannot make reservations for hotels for you. We recommend that you select a hotel from the website of the Utrecht tourist information: www.12utrecht.nl/.
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Utrecht is an old and beautiful city in the center of the Netherlands, about 40 kilometers to the South East of Amsterdam. If you come by train, travel to Utrecht Central Station.
If you fly to the Netherlands, you are likely to come in through Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. From the airport's railway station, you get to Utrecht Central Station in about 40 minutes. Ask for information at Schiphol Airport railway station, or plan your journey at www.ns.nl.
If you fly from a European destination, you may come in at Rotterdam Zestienhoven Airport or Eindhoven Airport. In Eindhoven and Rotterdam, you will have to take a bus to get to the local train station. Rotterdam Airport - Utrecht Central Station takes about 75 minutes; Eindhoven Airport -Utrecht Central Station takes about 90 minutes.
Information about the Department of Philosophy and Utrecht University can be found at www.phil.uu.nl and www.uu.nl, information about the city of Utrecht at www.utrecht.nl and www.12utrecht.nl.
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dr. Bert van den Brink
Utrecht University
Dept. of Philosophy
P.O. BOX 80126
3508 TC Utrecht
The Netherlands
Tel. ++31-30-253-2090 (off.) /-1831 (dept. secr.)
Fax. ++31-30-253-2816
recognition@phil.uu.nl
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The organization committee wishes to acknowledge the kind support of
Utrecht University
Departement of Philosophy, Utrecht University
ZENO, The Leiden-Utrecht Research Institute for Philosophy
NWO, The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
KNAW, The Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
OZSE, The Netherlands Research School in Practical Philosophy