Respect for politicians is in short supply in our times. Most citizens of contemporary democracies seem to tolerate, not respect the rulers they elect. Are we troubled by the absence of respect in politics? Should politicians even be accorded respect? If yes, what form of respect must they get?
Directive respect: egalitarian.
The core idea of respect is a serious attitude, state of mind, or bodily stance flowing from a strongly positive appraisal of its object as being worthy. The object’s worth grounds respect. This is so not only in English but also in other languages such as Hindi (sanmaan) and Chinese (jing). In each language this concept also has multiple elaborations, of which three are relevant here.
One sense that might be called ‘directive-respect’ was elaborated by the late 18th century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. Respect, for him, had the force of an authoritative moral instruction, a directive. Why? Kant understood that, in their social interactions, humans can never entirely eliminate using one another for personal benefit.
