Being with others: The Thought of Jean-Luc Nancy about "The Other"

For Jean-Luc Nancy, being together (being together) or being with other (s) (being with others) has an existential priority over other being. Many of us believe that the first condition for humans is being a self (being themselves) or being alone (then being alone), then then becoming with others so that groups, communities, organizations, and even countries are created. But for Nancy, being with other always precedes being alone, this is due to the word "alone" which means withdrawal from others or togetherness - separation. Thus, "being together" always precedes "alone".

Likewise, we are often obscured (read: deceived) by being with others based on space, which is a shared life in the same place of residence. On the other hand, we are also often deceived by being immanent (being bound in / becoming inseparable). Being immanent can be assumed through religious or ideological ties such as nationalism, capitalism, fascism, or socialism. Through being immanent, we always feel attached to others through ideology. Why does Nancy criticize all that? This is because all of them tend to "uniform". Being "together with others" based on the similarity of space, will only co-opt a collection of individuals based on the similarity of space. Meanwhile, binding individuals into an ideology will only homogenize them into certain social elements, such as "becoming citizens", bourgeois groups, working class, people, worshipers, and so forth. All this will only give birth to a new concept of being, namely being in common. Meanwhile, being in common can never capture the dynamics of self autonomously.

Whereas for Nancy, being with other requires difference or being with difference (being together with difference). In other words, being with other is not possible without difference. Nancy calls this denial of difference "figuration" - she always pushes aside the different to maintain or make it public. For Nancy, this can be overcome by realizing that ontology is always a co-ontology. What he means is, being is always bound by being with. "Being with" is a philosophy about "between (us)". The philosophy of "in between" becomes important considering that self can only arise through differentiation with others — Nancy repeats G.W.F Hegel's belief about recognition. Likewise, self and other can only be present when the two are interconnected.

This "in-between" thought gave rise to Nancy's famous premise: "Self-stop, and the other starts". According to Nancy, the relationship between self and others is due to the "shared border". The ownership of these same boundaries allows for contact and communication. In this condition, being with other might be brought up because self is being negotiated or compromised. These negotiations and compromises will result in what Nancy calls reticulated multiplicity. From here, each individual will have a piece or allusion to other individuals so that each of their interests can be voiced and accommodated: the life of being with others can be realized.