I am, because you see me

Mutual recognition on campus

We all want to be recognized by others. However, the desire for mutual recognition is not just some “please notice me, senpai” meme stuff. In fact, mutual recognition as a basic human need constitutes the very essence of our Being*. It accompanies other bare necessities of survival such as oxygen, food, water, sleep, and shelter. One could even argue that not only do we have a dire need for mutual recognition, but also a natural right to be recognized by others just as much as we have a right for food, water, sleep, reproduction, and so on.

If you are familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you may recognize (heh) that recognition belongs to the category of esteem that is second from the top of the pyramid. But mutual recognition does so much more than just push your own egoist self-worth forward. Could it be even regarded as the most fundamental need that governs and secures all other needs? Here, I am taking the bold positive stance and emit:

Yes, needless to say!

But we probably need to say a little something about it, don’t we?

Start by imagining your life as a poor, homeless wanderer with no money, no food, and no roof over your head (not so far from the typical student life, eh?). If you are not mutually recognized by others, you are likely to just Disappear Ineluctably from Existence (yes, DIE). Thus, taking special notice of your neighbor (not like some stalker) is essential even to our most basic physiological needs. Even things like insomnia could be the effect of poor sociability or an utter lack thereof. Reproduction is also hard without a (recognizing) partner.

Thus, with a pinch of salt, all our basic needs that deal with physical survival at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy seem to necessitate, at least to some degree, the need for mutual recognition. This is especially the case with those notorious little “poop machines,” who flat out depend on our nurture and care and will not leave you second guessing whether their physical needs are being satisfied or not.

Psychology says that self-consciousness is dependent on our social interactions. One does not simply become self-conscious without reciprocal acts of recognition. The need for love and belonging is fulfilled by people who consistently check-in on you and involve you. Friendly relations not only create a strong sense of connection to others, but also expand your perception of reality. By producing the effect of re-cognizing the world through others, mutual recognition is the ultimate cure for depression and solipsism.

Re-cognition is the key

In re-cognition, you realign yourself in the world with the social other by listening to their story and engaging with their point of view. And perhaps, in the good case, this amounts to a deeper connection with that person through mutual understanding and empathy. Beefing up your awareness prevents the world from caving in on you and sets you free from the solipsistic prison of your own mind. An exchanging mind amplifies the experience of Being* itself.

Now there is an interesting idea about freedom that comes from philosophy. According to it, we obtain freedom through self-consciousness. It is not even possible to consider your activity as free, if you lack the ability to reflect on it as free activity. Instinct-based behavior belongs to animals, but freedom-based, self-conscious action is exclusive to us humans. If freedom means raised self-awareness, then mutual recognition must increase our sense of freedom as well.

And by that, I mean:

Let me get my point across in more concrete terms. For example, when you travel in a bus full of strangers, you don’t just sit next to someone, unless there are basically no more free two-seaters left. It would be extremely weird and awkward to sit next to a person you don’t know, when the rest of the bus seats were empty.

Deepest Furnace

The ultimate refinery of burning ideas

The reason for this phenomenon is that the stranger sitting on their seat also occupies the seat right next to them. Until mutual recognition has taken place, your sphere of freedom is limited by the sphere of freedom of that stranger on the bus. But as soon as you introduce yourself to them properly and they acknowledge your presence cordially, you are no longer obtrusively interfering them, but amicably interacting with each other.

Gimme freedom

This way you gain more freedom to act out in the world, because the seat that was previously “taken,” is now freed by mutual recognition.

It is also notable how during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic, our freedom was significantly reduced in the abnormal social conditions of the global health measurements.

Perhaps this experience of the loss of freedom is not only explained by having to deal with a limited sphere to act freely, but also by the lack of mutual recognition within that sphere of free activity. As soon as you are not sufficiently recognized by others, you become less free. And the less free you become, the less you feel like a human being, and more like an animal in a cage. Now obviously, after the hard times, it takes time and common effort to readjust back to our normal selves and restore our social wellbeing again. There is no automatic transition to better days at the University either, but we must put in the daily elbow grease for mutual recognition on campus.

Be yourself

Essentially, freedom is the power to act and recognize that my actions are free. Freedom is the exercise of our free rational agency that allows us to maximize our potentiality in forms of self-actualization. In other words, to be fully free means to be fully yourself. And we can only achieve our freedom together, not in solitude. This is why mutual recognition is so important, because it is the only way we can act out and truly function together in this world as free rational beings. And since the acknowledgment and fulfillment of our human needs requires this capability to free rational agency, Maslow’s hierarchy is exhausted by the one need of mutual recognition to rule them all.

Want to be recognized by others?

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by Samuli Riikonen