Philosophical Hermeneutics: Globalisation and the Problem of the Other

Abstract

Globalisation has become a commonly used word to the extent that its meaning has become fluid and often misused. The mainstream description of globalisation seems to miss the point indeed when it is believed that globalisation is about international exchange and interactions. However, the flow of the global interaction does not give credence to this idea so widely held. Globalisation has become Euro­American to the extent that there is an “other” within the politics of globalisation. There is a branch of humanity that receives the products and all the mentalities of globalisation without really participating in it directly. These non-participants, mainly from the countries of the South are indeed the global “other”. This paper, using philosophical analysis, traces the trajectory of thoughts embedded in globalisation, pointing out its Euro-American dimension and how this Euro-American dimension creates a binary, bifurcating humanity into us and them. This binary ontology affects the other adversely in the global contest.