Oldal 128 [128]
itself, because the alien is a relationship. The alien is always alien
in relation to the same. When this happens, the sense of exclusion
grows, and the first bricks appear in the wall.
4. The alien can appear at any time as enemy, whether I choose
this consciously or not. They can become enemy and can be made it
if I feel that they are threatening me—or if I want to feel like Iam
threatened. The sense of an enemy can create fear in me whether
it is justified or not, and I can feel like I am in danger and must
protect myself. Or I could be in an actual defensive situation that
makes me have to protect my identity. Cooperation ceases, as do
often even the simplest forms of communication, even though the
situation does not call for that yet. In this situation, regardless of
what anyone says, the conflict starts, whether in a Platonic or a
Hegelian sense. Only reconciliation lets itself be delayed.
It is important to emphasize:
-The concept of the other was, is, and always will be present in every
age. Homer’s story is an example. It is just as certain that the other
cannot be understood in itself, as it only exists as a relation. We can
see this in Hegel’s theory, mentioning the example of Narcissus.
We should add that Kierkegaard expands this radically: accord¬
ing to him the human itself, the self (Selv) is none other than a
relationship: the relationship of the human to itself. (Kierkegaard
1983. p.41., SKS 11.)
- It is also important that from the 17""-18" centuries—precisely
with the birth of the comparative sciences—the question of the
“other” becomes cultural, and as a result becomes a global question.
In other words, the relationship becomes the relationship between
communities, which includes every single segment of culture
(language, customs, laws, etc., and especially religion). In Samuel
F, Huntington's famous and often-criticized work, he writes,
Blood, language, religion, way of life, were what the Greeks had in
common and what distinguished them from the Persians and other
non-Greeks. Of all the objective elements which define civilizations,