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Context: This happens in the main character's dream. He sees some weird person
and he can't clearly see their face (so he doesn't even know if they're a man
or a woman). The person gives him a magical box that can grant wishes. After
they hold out the box:

> そして確か僕は、「どうして僕に **こんなものを** ？」なんてつまらない質問をした。
>
> 「君が実におもしろいからだよ。私は個性のない君たちの些細な相異を区別できない。 **その人をその人と認識できない。**

A couple of things. First, こんなもの here is the magical box. Then there is my
attempt at translation of this paragraph:

> And then, of course, what a boring question I asked!
>
> "Such a thing? To me? Why?.."
>
> "Because you're quite amusing. I can't tell apart the slight differences in
> your kind's colorless personalities.

However, I can't seem to bind the sentence in bold to the context and the
previous text here. If translated literally, I would do this as "Can't
recognize/realize such people from such people". I'm almost sure the "person"
is talking about the whole mankind (because there's no others who could fit
into 君 **たち** near the main character). Then if they're indeed talking about
the entire human race, who are その人 (such people)? And the question that bugs
me the most is: how does 認識できない fit here? 認識 is literally
"recognition/realization/knowledge", and I don't have a slightest clue about
how you can "recognize/realize その人 from その人". So any help would be greatly
appreciated.

Also, I would like to ask if I understand the "と" particle correctly and it
indeed means "...such people **from** such people". Because if it means
**and** as it usually does in such a case, then I don't have a slightest clue
how to interpret it, either.

Thanks.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-05T10:26:55.167
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2017-09-05T11:25:00.510
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question
meaning particle-と
How does this sentence fit into context?
I cannot recognize その人 as その人.

It essentially means that to him (the speaker?), all colorless people are all
the same and he can not tell the difference between any of them. So it is
impossible is identify an individual.
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2017-09-05T10:51:21.287
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2017-09-05T10:51:21.287
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answer
> 「どうして僕にこんなものを？」

I think this is a short form of "どうして僕にこんなものを **くれるの** ？ _Why will you give me
a thing like this?_ or _Why will you give me a box like this?_ " judging from
the given context.

> その人をその人と認識できない。

I'll give you similar sentences as follows in order that you could understand
the above given sentence for yourself.

(1) 私は、その人をArchAlessusと認識できる _I can recognize that person as ArchAlessus._  
(2) 私は、その人を先生と認識できる _I can recognize that person as a teacher._  
(3) 私は、その人を他の人と区別して認識できる _I can recognize that person by distinguishing it
from other people_.  
(4) 私は、その人をその人と認識できる _I can recognize that person as that person_.

### EDIT

> (1) 私は、その人をArchAlessus **と** 認識できる _I can recognize that person as
> ArchAlessus._  
>  I don't think I've ever seen "と" translated as "as" before.

We usually say like "私は、その人をArchAlessus **と** 認識できる" for "I can recognize that
person as ArchAlessus", and we can understand the meaning very well, but it's
better to say formally as "私は、その人をArchAlessus **として** 認識できる".

Then the questioner may understand "と" as "as" perfectly.
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2017-09-05T10:57:22.540
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