Situating Rahel Jaeggi in the contemporary Frankfurt critical theory

This article aims to show how the originality of Jaeggi's contributionto recent debates in critical theory clearly emerges if one comparesher approach with what in many ways represents its antecedent andconstant point of reference: namely, the critical theory of AxelHonneth. This comparison offers a privileged way of grasping theadvantages of Jaeggi's approach with respect to that of Honneth.At the same time, reversing perspective, it permits us to focus onsome open problems in Jaeggi's critical theory, which deserve tobe discussed with care. The negativistic, formal and proceduralcharacter of her critical theory, while on one hand shielding herapproach from the risks to which the most recent theory of Honneth is exposed – historical teleologism and ethicalsubstantialism – on the other hand exposes her approach to therisk of an excess of formalism and proceduralism, rendering itunable to tackle the central problem for any critical theory:namely, the link with a critical praxis and with the struggles forthe emancipation of one’s own time.