same time, this concept is relatively independent of its Pauline back-
ground, emphasizing various activities that this concept assumes
and implies.
The knowledge of the truth is not the fruit of a philosophical quest
but given from outside as a simple and certain conviction. While it
remains cognitive, it assumes attachment and personal commitment
in terms of devoted love, struggle, and moral conduct. It changes the
social reality in complex ways, leading to a separation from some
neighbours and a new proximity to others. It helps the mind to
combat errors, leading to an adequate regard of reality. At the same
time, knowledge of the truth also gives peace and eradicates fear,
enabling a new self-awareness.
Religiousagnitio veritatisthus amounts to new heteronomous self-
understanding, which is a receptive event in which the recognized truth
changes the individual. Remarkably, the recognition event is described in
terms of both upward and downward recognition: when the individual
recognizes the truth, he can also be said to receive the knowledge that
‘shines upon’him. Althoughagnitio veritatiscan be described in imper-
sonal terms as acknowledgement of the truth, it is basically interpersonal
in that the True Prophet imparts the recognition to the person.
In terms of our conceptions of recognition, the event is neverthe-
less fundamentally that of upward recognition. Although the True
Prophet is in many ways the effective cause behind this event, the
Prophet is not recognizing the believer, but vice versa. The believer
recognizes the truth that,finally, shines upon him from above. We
may say that an intensive expectation precedes the act of upward
recognition. The gifts move in both directions in this asymmetrical
interpersonal encounter.
Some aspects of‘identity constitution’and‘self-recognition’can be
observed in addition to the basic‘upward recognition’conception.
Conversion and massive change, expressed by terms like struggle and
separation, accompany the event of recognition. Moreover, recogni-
tion not only concerns its external object, but also the recognizing
mind. This mind learns to control its own emotions due to the
knowledge of the truth. In this sense, the‘self-recognition’conception
also plays a role. I would nevertheless say that the‘upward recogni-
tion’is the basic conception ofRecognitions; some aspects of identity
constitution and self-recognition accompany this basic view.
Historically, this conception has at least three elements: the
Aristotelian dramatic turn, the Roman legal concept of adopting
52 Recognition and Religion