6. Recognition: a Philosophy by Fredrik Hegel

We need to make sure we do not mis-recognize a group of people for something they are not, and that is why recognition play an important role in diminishing racial inequality: Friedrich Hegel’s philosophy of recognition; Recognition has both a normative and a psychological dimension. Arguably, if you recognize another person with regard to a certain feature, as an autonomous agent, for example, you do not only admit that he/she/they have this feature but you embrace a positive attitude towards them for having this feature. Such recognition implies that you bear obligations to treat them in a certain way, that is, you recognize a specific normative status of the other person, e.g., as a free and equal person (Young, 1990) . Most theories of recognition assume that in order to develop a practical identity, persons fundamentally depend on the feedback of other subjects (and of society as a whole).