Habermas, Honneth e il problema di una critica immanente del lavoro

This article ofers a critical reconstruction of Axel Honneth’s arguments for an immanent critique of labour. After giving an outline of the signiicance, in regard to Honneth’s social theory, of two crucial distinctions set forth by Jürgen Habermas (namely, that between work and interaction and that between System and Lebenswelt), the Author shows how Honneth’s conception has shifted from the initial search for a ‘critical notion of labour’ focused on the characteristics of working activity to a critical view of the division of labour that hinges on the normative claims that are deemed to be inherent in modern labour market and that are conceived of as immanent and universal normative criteria. In the inal section, the Author ofers some critical remarks on Honneth’s analysis of the labour market and suggests that its normative criteria could prove to be neither immanent, nor universal.