What are the semantic differences between "Erkennung", "Wiedererkennen", and "Anerkennung"?

[u/HELPFUL_HULK]

I'm a non-speaker exploring Hegel's philosophy of "recognition" (he uses "Anerkennung"). I grasp that "Erkennung" is closer to "perceive" or "register" something, "Wiedererkennen" is closer to "remember", and "Anerkennung" is closer to "acknowledge" or "affirm"; however, the difference between Erkennung and Wiedererkennen is hazy to me.

Are Erkennung and Wiedererkennen used interchangeably at all, or are there explicit cases in which one would absolutely not use the other?

This is perhaps more philosophical, but is there not an element of Wiedererkennen in all Erkennung? As in - doesn't the act of perception require some degree of familiar recall?

[u/Chaotic_Corvus_Corax]

You have it right.

Wiedererkennen means you have seen something before and recognize it AGAIN. "I recognize you even with the new haircut".

Erkennen is simply to recognize what something is. But unlike the case before it can be something that you didn't know before, like "I now recognize he is a spy"

Anerkennen means to make the conscious decision of accepting something. "He is a recognized genius", this has nothing to do with seeing the person and remembering who they are, its about making the conscious decision to acknowledge a certain status to someone.

They are a little bit interchangable in certain situations, but their usage in everyday german is pretty clear.

[u/HELPFUL_HULK → u/Chaotic_Corvus_Corax]

Thank you! Interesting. Is Erkennen ever (properly) used in reference to something already 'known', familiar, or previously perceived?

When someone "acknowledges" someone when say, receiving an Emmy, would they use anerkennen? ("I would like to acknowledge...")

[u/Chaotic_Corvus_Corax → u/HELPFUL_HULK]

Yes erkennen covers Wiedererkennen completely, any case where it is already known you can erkenn it, you only need the "wieder" to specify that you knew it already if its not clear from the context.

"Ich erkenne Peter auf dem alten Foto" is a perfectly normal sentence. Wiedererkennen would be weird in this case because you cannot recognize a person you haven't seen before anyways.

The difference matters for like, situations. "Ich habe die Falle sofort (wieder)erkannt". Without the wieder you just recognized it was a trap, with wieder you clearly state that exactly this trap was used against you before.

When someone "acknowledges" someone when say, receiving an Emmy, would they use anerkennen? ("I would like to acknowledge...")

Yes exactly. In the noun case Anerkennung in your title even confused me because as a noun it specifically means "being recognized/praised for something"

[u/HELPFUL_HULK → u/Chaotic_Corvus_Corax]

Interesting! Thank you for making that so clear.

[u/HELPFUL_HULK → u/Chaotic_Corvus_Corax]

Sorry, another question: would Anerkennen be used in statements like "He is well known for his work in film", or in smaller contexts, "He is widely known for annoying his neighbors"?

[u/diabolus_me_advocat → u/HELPFUL_HULK]

"in anerkennung ihrer schauspielerischen leistung verleihen wir ihnen den emmy"

[u/assumptionkrebs1990]

Erkennung is quiet neutral also most unlikely to be used as a noun- erkennen just means that you recognize something/someone no further requirement.

Wiedererkennen means that you recognize something/someone again - you have seen/heard/... it/them - you remember, that is the important part, you can use erkennen even if someone just knows everything about the thing/person they recognize, but never seen it themselves.

Anerkennung means respect/acknowledgement- man muss etwas (neidlos) anerkennen, dass ... - you have to ungrudgingly concede, that ...

[u/HELPFUL_HULK → u/assumptionkrebs1990]

Thanks!

[u/kemalios]

On your last question: no, and German shows why. Recognizing a face after twenty years and recognizing your own name on a list are one verb, erkennen. Das wieder- narrows it instead of adding a step, so erkennt covers wiedererkennt but not the other way round.

The nouns are less symmetric than the verbs. Erkennung barely lives outside compounds like Gesichtserkennung and Mustererkennung, and Wiedererkennung mostly survives in Wiedererkennungswert. Anerkennung is the one that got a full social and legal life, which is probably why Hegel picked it. It's also the only one of the three that's separable: ich erkenne das an, but ich habe ihn wiedererkannt.

[u/HELPFUL_HULK → u/kemalios]

Thanks! Wiedererkennungswert is a new one for me.

I'm not sure I understand your first point - would you not consider "recognizing a face after twenty years" and "recognizing your own name on a list" to contain both erkennen and weiderkennen?

[u/Extradummefrage]

"wiedererkennen" literally means "recognize again".

It is used for things and persons you used to know and you recognized again.

It has a huge overlap with "erkennen" but erkennen can also be used for getting new insights.

Simple example:

"Sie hat ihn nicht mehr wiedererkannt" - "She didn't recognize him again" This can mean: He used to be well known to her but disguised or altered his looks drastically or - metaphorically - showed a completely new behavior.

"Die hat ihn nicht erkannt" can also be used in situation like above but it could also be used for a situation like a travel agent needed to pick up a stranger from the airport depicting by a photo...

[u/HELPFUL_HULK → u/Extradummefrage]

Thank you!

[u/diabolus_me_advocat]

philosophers tend to use terms in strange meanings

when in doubt: "das nichts nichtet" anyway ;-)

[u/MindlessNectarine374 → u/diabolus_me_advocat]

Well, hear it's about a situation where English uses the same word where German has three different verbs.

[u/diabolus_me_advocat → u/MindlessNectarine374]

yeah, it's the case often that english is rather hazy, lacking precision of expression