Carla BAGNOLI, Université de Modène et Reggio Emilia, Italie

This paper argues that undertaking the objective stance is an agential prerogative, which marks a privileged position, and it investigates its ethical and political implications. The argument builds on paradigmatic cases in which distancing is an agential prerogative which qualifies as a normative act of displacement, aimed at attacking the normative status of others as peer political subjects and undermining their role in cooperative interactions. This argument departs from current debates centered on P.F. Strawson’s characterization of the objective stance, in that it shows that Strawson’s distinction between the objective and the participant reactive stance is morally problematic, rich in ambivalences, and ultimately untenable.

On the one hand, on his account, reactive attitudes are second-personal demands, which help to draw the line between the objective and the participatory stance. On the other hand, whether to undertake the participant or the objective stance is itself an agential prerogative, that is, an opportunity open to subjects capable of practical concerns and practical engagement with others. The analysis of the practical character of the objective stance reveals that Strawson’s notion of reactive attitudes is rich enough to be usefully appropriated by the ensuing debate about the struggle for recognition.