Sergio Clavero, former PhD student within the Emotional Culture and Identity project at the Institute for Culture and Society of the University of Navarra, defended his doctoral thesis entitled, “Social and moral bonds in Axel Honneth's theory of recognition.” The researcher completed a double doctorate in Philosophy and Sociology within the framework of an agreement between the University of Navarra and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

After studying Jon Elster’s theory of rational choice in his master's thesis, he decided to dedicate his doctoral research to better understanding the opposite position, namely, the normative conception of the social realm. This led him to the thought of Axel Honneth, which is based on Hegel's theory of recognition. Specifically, he studied the relationship between bonds, identity and normativity for analyzing current society.

"Elster considers the subject’ssocial bonds as external to him" he says. "Faced with this," he adds, "my director and I thought it would be interesting to develop the connection between social and moral ties from Honneth’s perspective, which combines sociology and philosophy."

Within the framework of his thesis, Sergio undertook two research stays at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.