Recognition: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives

Acknowledgements

Notes on Contributors

1. Philosophies of Recognition: An Introduction Matthew Congdon and Thomas Khurana

Part I: Aesthetics

2. Aesthetic Recognition: A Kantian Model Samantha Matherne

3. Three Models of Aesthetic Recognition Jörg Schaub

4. Playing Society: Simmel’s “Sociability” and the Idea for an Aesthetic Species of Recognition Barbara Carnevali

5. A Recognitive Bond without Terms: The Concept of Aesthetic Action Florian Klinger

6. Recognizing Others Through Art Scott Shushan

7. Recognition and Deliverance Andrew Norris

8. Failed Recognition in the Dardennes’ Rosetta: Hegelian Implications Robert B. Pippin

Part II: Mind, Language, and Knowledge

9. Recognition versus Mind-Reading in Philosophy of Mind and Language Richard Moran

10. Recognition in Theory: Psychoanalytic Theory and the Epistemology of Recognition Francey Russell

11. Acknowledgment Is Not Recognition: On the Perlocutionary Dimension of Our Normative Practices Daniele Lorenzini

12. From Interacting Substances to Recognizing People: On the Logical Foundations of Hegel’s Theory of Recognition Andrew Werner

13. Recognition and Intellectual Self-Trust Nadja El Kassar

14. Homeplace: Recognition-giving Practices and Epistemic Agency in Communal Spaces Hilkje C. Hänel

Part III: Ethics

15. Ancient Greek Recognition? Homer, Plato, and the Struggle for Honor Jonathan Fine

16. Recognition of the Will Wayne Martin

17. Persons, Animals, and Recognition: A Classical Yoga Perspective Owen Ware

18. A Romance of Recognition: Nature, Gender and Sex(ism) in Friedrich Schlegel Federica Gregoratto

19. Unveiling Existential Ambiguity: The Role of Recognition in Simone de Beauvoir's Philosophy Manon Garcia

20. From Ecocide to Nature’s Right: Recognition in the Anthropocene J. M. Bernstein

21. Moral Invisibility and Institutional Care Vanessa Carbonell

Part IV: Social and Political Philosophy

22. Kant’s Theory of Property as a Theory of Mutual Recognition Rafeeq Hasan

23. Recognition in a Form of Life Terry Pinkard

24. G.W.F. Hegel, Frantz Fanon, and Angela Davis on Recognition, Slavery, and Liberation Daniel James and Franz Knappik

25. Five Notes on Counter-Recognition Daniel Loick

26. Metamorphosis of Value: Epistemic Protocols in the Racial Longue Durée and Rocío Zambrana

27. Arendt’s Philosophy of Appearance and the Ambivalences of Recognition Sophie Loidolt

28. The Power of the Third: Recognition and Gift-Giving Dirk Quadflieg

29. Equality, Interpellation, Liberation: Three Vectors of Recognition Christoph Menke (Translated by Jacob Blumenfeld).

Index

Biography

Matthew Congdon is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, USA, specializing in ethics, social philosophy, and aesthetics. His book, Moral Articulation: On the Development of New Moral Concepts, was published in 2024.

Thomas Khurana is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Potsdam, Germany, and Director of the Center for Post-Kantian Philosophy. He is the editor of a special issue of the European Journal of Philosophy (2021) on Recognition and the Second Person and the author of The Life of Freedom in Kant and Hegel (2026).

'Since path-breaking work on the theme in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, recognition theory has developed into a major research approach, perhaps even paradigm, in philosophy and related disciplines. Certain limiting assumptions about recognition are widely associated with this approach—assumptions concerning the history of the idea, the legitimate areas of application of the approach, the paradigmatic structure of recognition-relations, and their possible relata. This superb collection of new essays shakes these associations and paves way for understanding recognition as having a much wider significance than often thought—universally human and perhaps even crossing the boundary between the human and the non-human. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the theme of recognition.' - Heikki Ikäheimo, University of New South Wales, Australia

'A rich philosophical discussion has been initiated in the 1990s by the seminal works of Charles Taylor, Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser. This fascinating collection provides new directions for this discussion. It demonstrates that contemporary theories of recognition offer a novel and unanticipated perspective on certain philosophies of the past, including those of Plato and classical Yoga. Furthermore, it addresses issues that have hitherto been neglected, such as aesthetics and the philosophy of language. And finally, this collection sheds light on new dimensions of the politics of recognition. It very convincingly shows that the concept of recognition offers a fundamental resource for individuals and groups who seek to address contemporary challenges, social and political, through a philosophical lens.' - Emmanuel Renault, University Paris Nanterre, France