Denying others’ subjectivity reduces the denier to a thing

Evidence

Th e shared communications and practices of human agents create “a human world in which each object is penetrated with human meanings” (EA, 74). If one denies the human character of objects in the world by denying the subjectivity of those who manufacture the world, one becomes like a thing oneself, as when “the parasite [i.e., the slave owner] ignores the human character of the objects which he uses. In the tools, the machines, the houses, and the bread he eats, he does not recognize the mark of any freedom. Only the matter remains, and to the extent that he depends upon only matter, he is also matter and passivity … a thing among things” (PC, 132). — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 618

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘thing among things’ diagnosis of the slave owner connects to Beauvoir’s analysis of oppression and mystification in Chapter 2 of The Ethics of Ambiguity. — connects to: Denouncing the personality as lie makes the residue easier to dominate — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 77; Moral ideals reduced to subjective preference fatally weaken opposition to reality — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 555; Denying a people a system of thought denies their humanity itself. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 690 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Denying a people a system of thought denies their humanity itself. #expands (0.85) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 690
• Moral ideals reduced to subjective preference fatally weaken opposition to reality #corroborates (0.75) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 555
• Countering negative stereotypes by claiming superiority reinforces rather than escapes dehumanization #expands (0.75) — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 439