Rainer Forst develops a critical theory capable of deciphering the
deficits and potentials inherent in contemporary political reality.
This calls for a perspective which is immanent to social and
political practices and at the same time transcends them. Forst
regards society as a whole as an 'order of
justification' comprising complexes of different norms
referring to institutions and corresponding practices of
justification. The task of a 'critique of relations of
justification', therefore, is to analyse such legitimations
with regard to their validity and genesis and to explore the social
and political asymmetries leading to inequalities in the
'justification power' which enables persons or groups
to contest given justifications and to create new ones.
Starting from the concept of justification as a basic social
practice, Forst develops a theory of political and social justice,
human rights and democracy, as well as of power and of critique
itself. In so doing, he engages in a critique of a number of
contemporary approaches in political philosophy and critical
theory. Finally, he also addresses the question of the utopian
horizon of social criticism.
