ordinary forms of recognition (downward, upward, etc.) exemplify
social interaction or gift transfer. Identity constitution means a dra-
matic change in the cognitive content or volitional attachment taking
place between the recognizer and the recognizee.
Finally, I will briefly draft another variant pertaining to situations in
which A and B cannot recognize one another but are nevertheless ready
torecognizeC.ThisCcansometimesbeaperson(likeajudgeinan
arbitration court), but more typically it is an impersonal set of rules or
facts that both parties can acknowledge (like the rules of democratic
process between disagreeing parties). I call this variantmediated recog-
nition. The component C can be labelled as‘categorial stance’.
The categorial stance C should have an adequate availability to
parties A and B. On the one hand, it should indirectly promote future
recognitive efforts between A and B. On the other hand, the categorial
stance is like a benchmark that does not participate in the gift transfer
of Rdef. Thus it applies to situations in which A and B cannot
recognize one another but nevertheless have some common bench-
mark. For instance, Christians and Jews may both recognize the
freedom of religion in a society in which they both live. Such recog-
nition does not yet mean any gift transfer in the sense of Rdef, but the
shared categorial stance may nevertheless provide a catalyst for future
recognitive efforts.
Introduction 41