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The Other or '''constitutive other''' is a key concept in Continental Philosophy , opposed to the '' Same ''. It refers to that which a person considers to be entirely unrelated to their own concept of their self-identity. As such, a person's definition of the 'Other' is part of what defines or even constitutes the self (see Self (psychology) , Self (philosophy) , and Self-concept ) and other phenomena and cultural units. Lawrence Cahoone explains it thus: :"What appear to be cultural units—human beings, words, meanings, ideas, philosophical systems, social organizations—are maintained in their apparent unity only through an active process of exclusion, opposition, and hierarchization. Other phenomena or units must be represented as foreign or 'other' through representing a hierarchical dualism in which the unit is 'privileged' or favored, and the other is devalued in some way." (Cahoone 1996) It has been used in Social Science to understand the processes by which socieites and groups exclude 'Others' who they want to subordinate or who do not fit into their society. For example, Edward Said 's book '' Orientalism '' shows how this was done by western societies—paticularly England and France —to 'other' those people in the ' Orient ' who they wanted to control. HISTORY OF THE OTHER IN PHILOSOPHY The concept that the self requires the other to define itself is an old one and has been expressed by many writers:
THE OTHER IN GENDER STUDIES Simone De Beauvoir adopted the Hegelian notion of the Other in her description of how male-dominated culture treats woman as the Other in relation to man. The Other has thus become an important concept for studies of the sex-gender system. According to Michael Warner :"the modern system of sex and gender would not be possible without a disposition to interpret the difference between genders as the difference between self and Other ... having a sexual object of the opposite gender is taken to be the normal and Paradigm atic form of an interest in the Other or, more generally, others." Thus, according to Warner, Freud ian and Lacan ian psychoanalysis hold the Heterosexist view that if one is attracted to people of the same gender as one's self, one fails to distinguish self and other, identification and desire. This is a "regressive" or an "arrested" function. He further argues that Heteronormativity covers its own narcissist investments by projecting or displacing them on Queer ness. De Beauvoir calls the Other the Minority , the least favored one and often times a woman, when compared to a man because, "for a man represents both the positive and the neutral, as indicated by the common use of man to designate human beings in general; whereas woman represents only the negative, defined by limiting criteria, without reciprocity" (McCann, 33). Betty Friedan supported this thought when she interviewed women and the majority of them identified themselves in their role in the private sphere, rather than addressing their own personal achievements. They automatically identified as the Other without knowing ( Colwill ). Although the Other may be influenced by a socially constructed society, one can argue that society has the power to change this creation (Haslanger). In effort to dismantle the notion of the Other, Cheshire Calhoun proposed a deconstruction of the word "woman" from a subordinate association and reconstruct it by proving women do not need to be rationalized by male dominance (McCann, 339). This would contribute to the idea of the Other and minimize the hierarchal connotation this word implies. SEE ALSO
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SOURCES
McCann, Carole. Kim, Seung-Kyung.
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