PANEL 12 / THE CRITIQUE OF SOCIAL PATOLOGIES
CONVENOR: SONIA MARIA PAVEL
All enquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected].
Critical social and political theorists have articulated the concept of ‘social pathology’ to capture how things go awry in our forms of life in ways not well-captured by the vocabulary of injustice (e.g. Honneth 2009; Sluga 2014; Neuhouser 2022). Social practices often distort our perceptions, tastes, preferences, and normative judgments without anyone being wronged or having their rights violated (Jaeggi 2018). Pathologies of the social world include alienation, reification, ideology, false consciousness, as well as aesthetic distortions. In each case, we participate in social relations that create “socially deficient forms of rationality”, from a lack of reflexivity to the flattening of all discourse into instrumental reasoning (Honneth 2009).
In this panel we investigate three case studies of social pathologies: reification, alienation, and deference to social roles. The conceptual vocabulary of social pathology provides both a clear lens for normative critique and a fruitful starting point for political change. Together, these papers develop theoretical resources to better diagnose and address these pathologies in practical ways. The upshot is further insight into both the limitations of individual agency and the role of individuals in changing our collective world.
All enquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected].
Critical social and political theorists have articulated the concept of ‘social pathology’ to capture how things go awry in our forms of life in ways not well-captured by the vocabulary of injustice (e.g. Honneth 2009; Sluga 2014; Neuhouser 2022). Social practices often distort our perceptions, tastes, preferences, and normative judgments without anyone being wronged or having their rights violated (Jaeggi 2018). Pathologies of the social world include alienation, reification, ideology, false consciousness, as well as aesthetic distortions. In each case, we participate in social relations that create “socially deficient forms of rationality”, from a lack of reflexivity to the flattening of all discourse into instrumental reasoning (Honneth 2009).
In this panel we investigate three case studies of social pathologies: reification, alienation, and deference to social roles. The conceptual vocabulary of social pathology provides both a clear lens for normative critique and a fruitful starting point for political change. Together, these papers develop theoretical resources to better diagnose and address these pathologies in practical ways. The upshot is further insight into both the limitations of individual agency and the role of individuals in changing our collective world.
