This article reconstructs the main motives that led to the most recent renewal of the epistemological foundations of critical theory. It analyses the move from a theory based on the notion of "communicative action" (Jurgen Habermas) to one centred on "recognition" (Axel Honneth). The article argues that both this renewal and the "inter-subjective turn", proposed decades ago by Habermas as response to the original agenda focused on the "critique of ideology", can be understood by looking at one of the distinctive goals critical theory seeks to meet from its epistemological positioning: to conceive its forms of knowledge as a moment of self-reflection of a socially existing emancipatory interest. This implies connecting in some way its critiques of injustice to the lived experiences of injustice. In sum, the different ways of addressing this self-reflective goal can be understood as the guideline between consecutive epistemological renewals of this tradition of social criticism.