Criticism and ethical diagnosis in social theory

Towards a reintroduction of the concept of alienation

Abstract

Hartmut Rosa argues that the near abandonment of the concept of alienation in recent decades is due to the absence of normative criteria to determine its opposite - resonance - an absence that stems from the normative challenges involved in this definition. In this article, we analyze how Charles Taylor's discussion of the ethics of the conception of the modern self influences Hartmut Rosa's reconstruction of the concept of alienation. We argue that Taylor's hermeneutic philosophy plays a fundamental role for Rosa by offering a conceptual repertoire that allows him to diagnose the conditions of the good life in modernity. In doing so, we investigate how contemporary critical theory faces the challenge of reformulating classic concepts, such as alienation, in dialogue with philosophical approaches aimed at studying the ethical dimensions of modernity.