Respect as an Object of Equal Distribution? Opacity, Individual Recognition and Second-Personal Authority

In this paper I pursue the possibility of addressing respect not only in terms of a theoretical support for the articulation of distributive policies, but also and especially as an object itself of equal distribution. I work out a specific model of “respectful treatment” of minority subjects which, if displayed by institutions and their representatives, may prove well-suited to (i) handle claims of recognition related to certain aspects of the identity of those who are issuing the request (e. g. linguistic, ethnic, religious, cultural); (ii) acknowledge the moral authority of the subjects who have advanced such claims. With a view to this, I critically engage with two normative models of equal respect for people: (1) Carter’s idea of “opacity respect”, which is premised on the idea that respecting people requires treating them as endowed with a minimum threshold of empirical agential capacities; (2) Galeotti’s paradigm of equal respect as an individualising act of recognition.