Other

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The other is the determination of the something through demarcation. Something is determined only through its other --- not as an external addition, but constitutively. The relation something/other is completely symmetrical: what is "something" for me is "the other" for the other, and vice versa. The determination is relational, not absolute. Hegel's point: something cannot be thought in isolation --- it is always already in relation to the other. This reciprocal constitution is a productive circle, not an error. Example: "I" am only through demarcation from "you," "inside" only through "outside." The other is not mere negation, but the first form of relation.

Origin: Greek *heteron* (the other). Plato: *to heteron* as one of the *megista genē* (greatest kinds). Aristotle: *pros ti* (relation to another). Hegel radicalizes: the other is not external, but belongs to the determination of the something itself.

In Hegel: Enc. §92; SL Vol. 1, Quality

Cross-references: Something, Determination, Negation, Boundary, Relation, Existence (Dasein), Logic of Being

Commentary on the Logic, Chapter 1

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