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Health practices have been experiencing a crisis of legitimacy for some time, which overcoming seems to depend not only on technical responses, but requires a more radical review of their assumptions and strategies. This requirement also demands reviewing the theoretical arsenal that instructs critical reflection and empirical research on these practices. The present essay seeks to explore the contributions that Axel Honneth's Theory of the Struggle for Recognition can bring to this process. In this sense, the general lines of this theory are exposed and implications for health thinking/research are pointed out. The potential of this situation is noteworthy, especially with regard to the field of rights and social esteem, to explain processes of disrespect and, consequently, conflicts in the field of health; alienation as a barrier to the recognition of oneself and the other; and to promote reconstructive dialogues between theoretical frameworks that facilitate the articulated understanding of subjective and social processes, which is relevant for the construction of effective health care.