According to Stephen Darwall
The assumption that all people deserve and are entitled to respect just because they are human is problematic. Emotions are typically comprehended from both the third and first person perspectives. In many ethical theories, respect is a powerful emotion. In recent decades, it has received a great deal of philosophical attention. From the standpoint of political theorists, respect can be viewed as a simple object of responsibility in which we all owe each other equal regard. For example, respect informs many political practices of the special requests of the oppressed or marginalized in which they seek to be recognized. Such kind of respect is not viewed as a formal way of observing law but as the right way in which one should act or behave towards others. When viewed in this light, respect for persons becomes an ethical dimension of the relationships between human beings. Respect represents a social norm within a given community that governs the human relationships.
In Two Types of Respect
Darwall identifies two ways in which people can be perceived as objects of respect. The first one constitutes positive attitudes towards a given person. Darwall refers to this kind of respect as appraisal respect, and it is not the kind that is given to everyone equally and universally (Darwall 39). However, appraisal respect is based on the appreciation of excellence which is accompanied by the moral conduct that the respected subject displays. One may have respect for the integrity, good qualities or the expertise someone has on a given field. Respect for epistemic authority is the second form of respect pointed out by Darwall. It is founded on the technical competencies that the respected subject possesses (Darwall 43). It is different from appraisal respect in the sense that it is not necessarily connected to the moral conduct.
Respect is ambiguous in explanation and containment too
The traditional form of respect was associated with differential status. Servants had to respect their masters, and wives had to respect their husbands while children were supposed to respect their parents. Respect was not based on features that people share but the special features possessed by some making them different. This form of respect is similar to Darwall's appraisal respect. It existed with the notion that everyone is entitled to some form of regard irrespective of such things as rank, virtue, status or merit. It is only natural for one to consider such type of regard as respect. It is evident that both ancient and modern writers who wished to shift their focus from personages to persons avoided the language of respect.
The contemporary definition of respect for person
The contemporary definition of respect for person seems to conflict with its explanation difficulty. Its explanation is quite simple in which it explains respect involves the duty we have towards others by respecting them as morality requires in all the interactions we have with them. This kind of perspective draws attention in the sense that it accounts for its popularity considering that even those people who do not agree with the demands of morality will agree with that we need to conform to them. On the other hand, the perspective is unsatisfactory since it is a debunking explanation. It holds that there is no independent duty in which we should respect people but appeal to perform the duties that we already owe them.
According to Immanuel Kant
'All reverence for a person is properly only reverence for the law of which the person provides example' (Kant 422) This view is not debunking explanation but it is problematic. It makes the moral law the subject of respect while a person to be respected derivatively. People exemplify moral law differently making it tricky to illustrate how we can end up with an unchangeable duty to respect all of them. Besides, the perspective does not answer the concept of respect for persons. That way our concern terminates on the person making us independent of any judgment we can make of a person's molarity. It is not easy to deeply understand the duty to respect a person if the relevant concerns terminate at the person. It is important to have an explanation of duty that goes further to explain about a person in virtue of which we owe them respect.
How to contain respect
Respecting people involves showing them. In other words, respect entails offering, as well as to be seen and understood that it is offered. This raises the question of what constitute the right signs of respect. Hobbes was thinking of the true signs of respect when he concluded that demanding respect is the greatest source of conflict among people (Hobbes 88). He argues that every person expects others to value him as much as he sets upon himself. Conclusively, respect is one of the most problematic emotions to explain and contain.
Works Cited
Darwall, Stephen L. "Two kinds of respect." Ethics 88.1 (1977): 36-49.
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan, or the matter, form and power of a commonwealth, ecclesiastical and civil. Yale University Press, 1907.
Kant, Immanuel. "Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, trans. HJ Paton." New York: Harper & Row 4 (1964): 420-426.
