1 - Introduction

Summary

It is thus the growth of his own understanding of himself that he pursues through his understanding of the other. Every hermeneutics is thus, explicitly or implicitly, self-understanding by means of understanding others.

The significance that Ricœur assigns to the hermeneutical Other (in this case a reference to remoteness of culture and time) in the purpose of interpretation can be equally important for the understanding of community identity-formation. In the latter case, however, the Other refers to individuals and the communities that they make up. In other words, it seems that identity cannot fully be grasped without resorting to comparison with those who are different from ‘us’ and/or who often antagonise ‘us’. To be sure, other aspects are important in the forging of identity: memory, rituals, and texts, to mention some. Nevertheless, when asked to define our identity, it is telling that we often have to resort to comparisons with others in order to achieve clarity. Implied in this mode of definition is the idea of difference. The Oxford English Dictionary could not escape bringing in the Other when defining identity. Its second entry on the word states: ‘The sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances; the condition or fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality, personality.’