conceptual inquiry regarding meaning » concrete conditions » recognition
This node formally combines sociological and psychological conditions. Human beings are social animals, so who we are is largely a function of our relationships with others. We're members of groups, but we're also individuals, and the sovereignty of our individual autonomy must be respected by other members in our groups, however wide.
There are levels of recognition. One can be recognized as a human being and so worthy of respect as one capable of self-determination—as an end-in-oneself. But individuals can also be recognized for the unique contributions they can make to our common world. Each of us has an unique perspective on our common world—given our different personal experiences and histories—and so each of us has something unique to bring to our common world. How can we encourage each other to make those contributions?
Recognition takes two. There has to be something in a person to be recognized, and the other person has to have the capacity to recognize it. And raising one's own capacity to recognize others is one way to become more recognizable oneself.
This node has a great deal to do with empathy, but empathy can be understood in a number of ways. In one sense, we empathize with those who are going through something similar to what we're going through. Such empathy takes little effort; we already know. In another sense, it takes effort to understand what someone is going through since we've never gone through it ourselves. Yet the effort will be recognized. In yet another sense, we can experience what another's going through, but not in the particular way in which they're experiencing it. This involves traversing levels of experience. We acknowledge and understand a kind of experience, then let ourselves and our judgments be disolved in that kind such that we can recognize without knowing. Usually this is enough to establish a bond—that is, a ground for further engagement.
Bearing the same color as that which represents acquaintance knowledge in the field of subjective intelligibility (M), E is the limiting condition of such knowledge. The limit is to know, not just what it's like to be oneself, but what's it's like to be others as well, when there are an infinite number of others.
