The struggle for recognition in Japan

Towards an intercultural dialogue based on the concept of honor

Abstract

This paper proposes the need to broaden the solidarity concept on Honneth’s philosophy, understood as a modern process of individuation of feudal honor in the evaluation of concrete lifestyles. Looking to the honor culture in Japan, we propose to demonstrate that social expectations can keep having a great influence in order to define relations of recognition, self-perception and status, together with the affirmation of individual claims. This will bring us to an eticity concept which assumes social contexts not taken into account until now.