since in expressions like‘recognizing you as a child of God’the
downward movement leads towards a sort of equality (family mem-
ber). Ficino’s treatise on love (section 2.5) is a remarkable precursor
of horizontal recognition, as Ficino treats mutual love among equals.
Various dimensions appear within this love. The‘less beautiful’
partner lovesfirst, creating an upward move towards the‘more
beautiful’. However, as both parties fundamentally love the ideal
archetype in which they both participate, lovefinally takes place
among equals. At the same time, the perfect archetype represents
something higher than the imperfect lovers, underlining the‘upward’
move. The English term‘acknowledgement’, employed by Hobbes
and Locke (section 3.1), often contains a traditional‘upward’move in
which a creedal formula or God is recognized. As the broader context of
their writings concerns issues like equality and toleration, some hori-
zontal aspects of the concept are also relevant for Hobbes and Locke.
Schleiermacher’s‘downward’conception is to some extent pre-
ceded by Luther (section 2.6), who emphasizes God’s downward act
of justification as something that‘verifies’the religious person and
establishes the‘true commendation’of human beings. After Schleier-
macher, the‘upward’recognition nevertheless continues to be prom-
inent in religious authors like Rudolf Bultmann and Karl Barth
(section 3.4). However, these modern authors also establish a new
way of thinking about religious recognition. Such an‘existential’way
can no longer be captured merely as an‘upward’move. In order to
describe this feature properly, we need to survey another aspect,
namely, the epistemic or cognitive component of recognition.
4.1.3. Cognitive/ExistentialLet us start this second survey with a short history from the Enlight-
enment to the present day. Johann Joachim Spalding (section 3.2)
outlines religious recognition in terms that are traditional insofar as
they depict an‘upward’move with which people recognize God.
For Spalding, however,Anerkennungis not primarily an issue of
admitting the superiority of the other. Rather, the act of recognition
is a cognitive gate through which one must pass to see the relevance of
religion. Recognition is, therefore, an epistemic condition of possibil-
ity: in order to make sense of the call of duty and the striving for
happiness that drive human beings, a fundamental and a priori
recognition of the perfect world ruler is needed.
188 Recognition and Religion