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UCL Mellon Programme: Identities and Culture in Europe since 1945

Seminar: 22 March 2006

Dr Jonathan Seglow: Multiculturalism, Recognition and Respect

Abstract

Advocates of the politics of recognition offer a variety of positions on whether such a politics need appeal to the moral value of the relevant cultural groups.  This paper first contends that groups' constitutive values are necessarily invoked in arguments for recognition, a conclusion which faces the obstacle of value pluralism.  In the non-multicultural literature, recognition is often conceived of in an appraisive sense, subjects are recognised just insofar as their achievements are normatively worthy, a conceptualisation which fits with its multicultural use  However, if recognition is a basic human need, something which persons require in order to realise themselves as persons, then it cannot be tied to controversial judgements about values.  The remainder of the paper seeks to negotiate this dilemma.  First, it suggests that there a number of diverse agential capacities necessary for success in a wide range of activities and practices, and, if developed, appropriate bases of self-respect.  Second, drawing on Axel Honneth's work, it argues that acknowledgement of one's social contribution is another source of self-respect, a conclusion which supports revaluing some presently undervalued activities (e.g. mothering), and multiplying society's contributive possibilities (e.g. in employment).  Finally, it posits the existence of a shared interpretive order which structures everyday interaction and in which are embedded symbolic codes affecting persons' public standing.  It's argued that agents' co-authorship of this order is a further source of self-respect; this is not the same as (appraisive) respect for their achievements or contributions, but respect for their personal autonomy as expressed dynamically through the media of social interaction.

This page last modified 8 February, 2012 by UCL Mellon Admin