Towards a Brazilian Critical Theory of Justice: Social Liberation, Public Justification, and Normative Reconstruction

In this essay, we argue for a Brazilian reception of critical theory which seeks political emancipation by means of its social movements promoting several normative claims and forms of liberation, allowing thus for a public justification and reconstruction of social justice in an emerging democracy. A Brazilian critical theory of justice is shown to arise out of the social, conflictuous reality of its identity claims and struggles for recognition, within an ongoing process of democratization which, since its beginning over thirty years ago –after two decades of military dictatorship and following some five centuries of a violent process of colonization and authoritarianism —, has reached its climax of internal divisions and polarization today.