In a recent debate on the possibility of group personhood Christian List and Philip Pettit (2011) argue for a performative theory of personhood where all agents who manage to perform in the space of obligations are taken as persons. Based on this account they claim that group agents are also persons. This theory has been challenged on the grounds of its historical accuracy, lack of political relevance, and contestability of the concept of personhood (Kusch 2014). This paper aims to take a new perspective on the debate by approaching it through the Hegelian tradition of recognition. It is argued in here that the recognition theory gives us a multidimensional view of personhood, which, in turn, can be used to clarify what is at stake when we talk about collective personhood.

Onni Hirvonen is a post-doctoral researcher in philosophy at University of Jyväskylä. He has received his PhD in philosophy from Macquarie University, Australia, in 2014. Hirvonen's interests lie in social ontology, collective agency, and theories of recognition. His current research focuses on the interplay of identities and institutions from recognition-theoretical perspective.

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