Abstract This introduction examines the main premises and terms of the special issue: person, agency, and representation. It argues that representation and agency stand in an internal relation: There is no agent without its personification and no agency without its possible vicarious representation. Yet, personification and representation enable agency only by at the same time complicating the integrity, authority, and presence of the agent. The introduction elucidates the inherent and conflictual relation of representation and agency by means of three early modern scenes from theology, law, and literature, and offers a brief overview of the individual contributions.

中文翻译：

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代理机构：简介

摘要 本导论探讨了特刊的主要前提和术语：人、机构和代表。它认为代表和代理处于一种内部关系：没有人格化就没有代理，没有可能的替代代表就没有代理。然而，拟人化和代表只能通过同时使代理人的完整性、权威性和存在性复杂化来实现代理。引言通过神学、法律和文学的三个早期现代场景阐明了代表与代理的内在和冲突关系，并简要概述了个人的贡献。