“Given that the thymos that has been conditioned by
civilization is the psychological location of what Hegel depicted as a striving
for recognition, it becomes clear why the lack of recognition by
relevant others excites rage. If one demands recognition from a specific
opponent, one stages a moral test. If the other who is addressed rejects this
test, she needs to deal with the rage of the challenger, who feels
disrespected. Rage occurs first when the recognition from the other is denied
(which leads to extroverted rage). However, rage also flourishes if I deny recognition to myself in light of my value ideas (so that I
have reason to be angry with myself). According to Stoic philosophy, which
situated the struggle for recognition fully inside the human psyche, the wise
person is supposed to be satisfied with self-respect, first, because the
individual in no way has control of the judgment of the other and, second,
because she who is knowledgeable will strive to keep herself free from all
that does not depend on herself.
Usually the thymotic impulse is connected to the wish to find
one's self-worth resonating in the other. This desire could
easily be an instruction manual for teaching oneself to become unhappy, one with a universal success rate if it were not
for those dispersed cases of successful mutual recognition. Lacan probably said
what is necessary concerning the profound idea that there is a grounding
mirroring process, even though his models, probably unjustly, situate early
infantile conditions at the center of investigation. In reality, life in front
of the mirror is more of a children's disease. But among adults the striving
for reflection in the recognition of others often means the attempt to take
possession of a will-o'-the-wisp—in philosophical jargon: to instantiate oneself
in what is insubstantial."
--Peter Sloterdijk, Rage and Time
