Stages of Otherness in the Philosophy of Luis Villoro

Abstract

This essay interprets Luis Villoro’s philosophy as a pluralist and progressive one, with a rationally critical focus on otherness; i.e., as a criticism of the “egological” paradigm of the Western philosophical-cultural tradition. Four states of otherness are distinguished in his work. 1) The other as “you”: the interpersonal experience of otherness; 2) the other as “somebody else” or a “stranger”, this being the cultural-historic experience of otherness, that particularly refers to the Mexican Indians; 3) the Other as the absolute regarding the metaphysical-religious experience of otherness; 4) the other as “the others”, that is, the communitarian experience and the ideal of a human community that is harmonic and free. It concludes with a reflection upon the meaning and value of Villoro’s philosophical and socio-cultural proposal.