Habermas e honneth: Leitores de mead

Abstract

Mead was an American pragmatist philosopher who developed a theoretical perspective called symbolic interactionism. For this social psychologist, there can only be a sense of the self if there is a corresponding sense of "us." Mead's theory is central to Habermas and Honneth, as it does not resort to methodological individualism, explaining social phenomena and social behavior in an intersubjective perspective. It is argued that the fundamental concern of Habermas in rereading the social psychology of Mead focuses on the development of the self to reach a level of post-conventionality. Honneth's concern in reinterpreting Mead is connected to the contexts of moral vulnerability, i.e. the possibility to avoid the damage that the self may suffer in the formation of personal identity. It is argued, finally, that a reinterpretation of the social psychology of Mead based on the normative paradigm of self-realization has no theoretical resources with the potential to assess contemporary injustices and meet the challenges posed by the new social movements, since the expansion of the dimensions of recognition cannot rely on a defense of moral psychology of suffering. Therefore, we seek to present an interaction between Habermas and Honneth on the social psychology of Mead.