Otherness With(Out) Boundaries: Implications of Self-Versus-Other in the Search for Common Ground on the Human

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Epistemic questions about what constitutes the "human" are intrinsically tied to discussions of "identity" and the dynamic tensions between universal and relative constructions of the "self" versus the "other." In this paper, putting the writings of Pope Francis on migration in conversation with Paul Ricoeur's concept of solicitude, which takes into account the "suffering other," and "nameless" or "anonymous" faces, and Kristin Heyer's discussion of civic kinship with its emphasis on embracing human difference, I examine the relations between "identity," "self" and "otherness," and assess their implications for discussions of solidarity.