Fichte on summons, recognition and the body

Abstract

The article discusses Fichte’s view on summoning, recognition and the body as presented in the first part of Foundations of natural law (1796). According to Fichte, it is argued, recognition is the adequate response on the part of a finite rational being to a summoning from another finite rational being. To recognize another human being means to set limits to one’s own self-interest. Furthermore, what triggers off the process of recognition is the mere sight of the bodily shape of a human being. In the final section some comparisons are made with Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition.