Goodbye Hegel! Overcoming "Geschichtsteleologie" in German Critical Theory

The paper takes up Amy Allen’s challenge to contemporary German critical theory from the perspective of post- and de-colonial studies, focusing on the role played by Hegel’s legacy. More precisely, it takes up the neo-Hegelian method of normative reconstruction adopted by Axel Honneth and, in some respects, by Habermas. This perspective led Honneth to adopt a teleology of history, in the strict sense of a Geschichtsteleologie, although certainly in a post-metaphysical form, which represents an obstacle to Allen’s challenge. The teleological conception of the progressive realization of reason, especially during modernity, leads in fact to difficulties in developing a theory of history able to deal with the themes of coloniality, and more generally to discuss from this perspective the correlations between normativity, history and power relations. Finally, from the point of view of the opportunity to establish an organic connection between social critic and subaltern subjects and cultures, this conception is very problematic, especially considering the neo-Hegelian model of immanent critique.