The Transculturing Self: A Philosophical Approach

The 'Self' is a core notion in Western philosophy, which mainly defined it as an 'autarchic individual', dependent on no 'Other' whatsoever. Such a prevailing definition fails to recognise that just the 'Other' is needed to properly define the 'Self'. As a result, Western mainstream philosophy still seems to lack useful theoretical tools to approach that notion in an intercultural environment. In this paper, I argue for the possibility of a transculturing (not a transcultured) Self referring to Nietzschean 'perspectivism' as a theoretical starting point from within Western philosophy, able to overcome its incapability to cope with the challenges of interculturality. In the last section, the Japanese approach to the notion of Self is briefly discussed, according to which Self and Other are to be conceived as interdependent from the very beginning.