LABOR AS ASSUMPTION OF REALITY: MILESTONES TOWARD A THEORY OF LEGITIMATION
Abstract
Abstract: The article presents a critical examination of Hobbes’ theory of social contract and of Hegel’s theory of recognition qua theories of legitimation of power. The analysis unfolds along four steps: from an examination of the premises of those theories, premises which consist of providing the foundations of the political power those theories aim to legitimize (section I), labor intended as an assumption of one’s own abilities as they are revealed in a trial which sets a division of labor and emerges as the principle of economic and social organization (section II), whose principle, in order to be politically legitimized, will have to be explained (section III) and represented (section IV).
Key words: labor, recognition, legitimation, assumption (of reality; of one’s natural abilities; of one’s gifts), division of labor.
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