ABSTRACT

The theme of hermeneutic porosity governs the lead proposal of this chapter, namely, that borders should be valued and maintained as the culturally permeable membranes of practical and reflective understanding. The right of hospitality lies in part, Kant implies, in an act of mutual recognition. The conceptual borderlands to be negotiated in this argument concern what Gadamer calls the language-world which, of course, involves the interplay of a whole number of language forms. Ryszard Kapuscinski notes, How different the image of the same Other is in the era of anthropomorphic beliefs, in other words, those where the gods can take on human form and behave like people. For in those days no one could be sure if an approaching traveller, nomad or stranger was a man or a god resembling man. This uncertainty, this intriguing ambivalence, is one of the sources of the culture of hospitality, which recommends showing every form of kindness to newcomers.