Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Nonideal theory and critical theory are two approaches to social critique.Nonideal theory has become increasingly popular in post-Rawlsian political philosophy over the last 15 years (for an overview, see Valentini 2012).It is a broad church, but is often thought to be motivated by a dissatisfaction with ideal theory's lack of practical relevance (Swift 2008, 368).Issues that have preoccupied proponents of nonideal theory are partial compliance (see Rawls 1971, 8-9;Cullity 2004;Chahboun 2015), or the question of how to translate principles of justice into concrete policy recommendations (see, among others, Phillips 1985; Robeyns 2008).Critical theory, on the other hand, is often associated with the Frankfurt School (see Held 1980; Gordon, Hammer, and Honneth 2019), but also refers, more broadly, to work done by critical race theorists and feminist scholars (Mills 1997;Haslanger 2021).It shares with nonideal theory an orientation to real-world circumstances and a commitment to being relevant to action in the face of those circumstances.In the light of this, it is surprising that the relationship between nonideal theory and critical theory has not received more attention in the literature, for instance in the way that the relation between realism and nonideal theory has (for discussions of the latter see Cozzaglio and Favara 2022;Favara 2022;Sleat 2016;Rossi and Sleat 2014).This special issue seeks to fill this gap.The four contributions, while each developing a distinct understanding of this relationship, all agree that critical theory offers important insights which could strengthen the real-world relevance of the nonideal theory enterprise.
Source: Journal of Social Philosophy
DOI: 10.1111/josp.12590
Authors: Kristina Lepold, Mirjam Müller
Institution: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
OpenAlex ID: W4403881272