Abstract

This paper analyzes objecthood as a structural misinterpretation rather than a moral failure. When a person is reduced to a fixed representation, their agency, interiority, and developmental trajectory are obscured. I examine how this reduction arises, how it propagates through perceptual filtering and institutional practices, and the specific harms it produces. I then describe the conditions under which objecthood collapses and subjecthood becomes visible again, emphasizing recognition, ambiguity, and non‑coercive perception. The paper concludes by outlining the implications of a subject‑first stance for interpersonal life and social systems. The aim is not to prescribe a new ethic but to clarify a pervasive interpretive error and the structural dynamics that sustain or dissolve it.