struggle needs an alternative in which a peaceful experience of mutual
recognition can emerge.^47
Ricoeur wants to outline a peacefulagapeto complement justice,
not merely justice that comes about through struggle. The Maussian
discussion on gift exchange offers tools for such a task, as it creates an
exchange that is not focused on struggle or economic value. When
Hénaff calls this exchange mutual recognition, he performs a revolu-
tion in thinking, as he focuses on the giver and the recipient instead of
describing merely economic performance. The recognition given and
obtained through this exchange is something that is‘without price’,a
non-economic reality.^48
Because Hénaff can make a proper distinction between economic
and non-economic exchanges, he can also show theagape that
pertains to the peaceful relationships of recognition. This experience
of the gift can create an alternative to the Hegelian view of struggle.^49
Ricoeur thus concludes his discussion with a sort of chronological
paradox: while the concept of recognition evolves from Descartes to
Hegel and to the twentieth century, thefinal counterbalance is pro-
vided through the most archaic form of recognition, namely the
ceremonial gift exchange discovered by anthropologists.
Concerning the historical issue, Ricoeur joins Taylor and Honneth
in giving Hegel a prominent role in forging the concept of mutual
recognition. Ricoeur complements this concept with the ideas of
identification, remembrance, and self-knowledge, notions that have
been employed in early modern philosophy since Descartes. Espe-
cially with regard to self-knowledge and remembering, Ricoeur makes
several leaps into the more distant philosophical past. Both Hénaff
and Ricoeur assume that recognition is a basic concept of the human
condition, a phenomenon that illuminates the long history of cere-
monial gift-giving in various societies.
Regarding the role of religion in this history, Hénaff and Ricoeur
employ a rich variety of religious concepts but do not give them a
strictly explanatory role in the understanding of recognition. As
Hénaff goes through the Western history in his book, he has a lot
to say about early Christianity and the Reformation. He appreciates
the Christian notion ofkharis, grace, but discusses the concept of
recognition only in the context of the anthropological gift exchange.
(^47) Ricoeur 2005, 219. (^48) Ricoeur 2005, 236. (^49) Ricoeur 2005, 243–6.
Introduction 15