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Philosophy

College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University

Recognition

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Social Esteem As Moral Recognition, Erica Stonestreet Jan 2019

Social Esteem As Moral Recognition, Erica Stonestreet

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Some strands of feminist and social philosophy suggest that the basis for personhood is having an identity—where identity is not defined entirely in individualistic terms of reason and autonomy and is in fact quite relational. When personhood is conceived in these terms, morality becomes a matter of recognizing persons for who they are, which includes recognizing them as members of social groups. In this paper I explore the notion of esteem as a species of recognition for these layers of identity, claiming that esteem deserves to stand on equal footing with respect as a moral attitude.


Love And Respect As Moral Attitudes And Practices Of Recognition, Erica Stonestreet Jan 2019

Love And Respect As Moral Attitudes And Practices Of Recognition, Erica Stonestreet

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Beginning from the premise that moral deliberation and action have their roots in the recognition of persons, this paper argues that love deserves to stand on equal footing with respect as a mode of moral recognition. I argue first that as attitudes, respect and love are modes of moral recognition responding to specific others. They thus have similar epistemologies, but are distinguished by their positions along a concrete-abstract axis. In particular, I claim, respect is an attitude that recognizes another as a person, whereas love is an attitude that recognizes another as the person they are. Both attitudes check the …


Beyond Respect: Complexities Of Identity, Personhood, And Recognition, Erica Stonestreet Jan 2019

Beyond Respect: Complexities Of Identity, Personhood, And Recognition, Erica Stonestreet

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Mainstream analytic philosophy has long focused on a rationalistic conception of persons as the beings that matter morally. This has led to a heavy concentration on respect as a, if not the, core moral attitude. This paper aims to complicate the picture by arguing that personhood is more complex than this, because the identities in virtue of which persons matter are more complex. Persons matter not only as (abstract) persons, but as specific individuals and members of groups. As a result, they should be recognized in corresponding ways that go beyond respect, including love and esteem. Doing so expands …