Abstract
This paper discusses the concepts of private property and reciprocal recognition in some works by Karl Marx and Axel Honneth. Taking as its point of departure recent articles in which Honneth discusses the underlying distinction between economy and society in Marx’s work, the article intends to discuss both authors’ use of the concept of private property. First, then, it shows how some criticism by Honneth is indeed fair, but then, in a second step, it proceeds to show some limits of Honneth’s analysis, when compared to Marx’s exposition in Capital. Yet, in its conclusion, the article does not try to retrieve a Marxist point of view per se; rather, what matters is the implicit analysis of capitalism through a critique of political economy centered on the concept of recognition.
Keywords:
Karl Marx; Axel Honneth; private property; reciprocal recognition; political economy