Deeper Look: Difference Between Otherness and Alterity

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Today’s episode explores the difference between otherness and alterity.

My name is Simone, I am a psychoanalyst, and I’ll be hosting this episode.

In philosophy, sociology, and ethics, these two words are often treated as if they mean the same thing because both refer to difference. They both come from the idea of “the Other,” meaning someone who is not us. But they point to two very different ways of understanding how we relate to people who are different from us.
Otherness is about seeing difference from the outside. It happens when we define someone mainly by how they are not like us. It is the kind of difference we notice when we draw a line and say, “This is me, and that is not me.”
Alterity is different. It is about meeting difference from the inside, as a real encounter. Instead of trying to define or reduce the other person, alterity accepts that the other will never fully fit into our way of thinking. Alterity refers to the fact that the other has their own inner life, desires, and meaning that cannot be absorbed and become part of our own.

What Is Otherness?

Otherness is about difference that can be clearly noticed and described. It refers to someone or something that is not us. The difference feels visible, easy to name, and easy to place into categories. It is how we usually put people into groups, and labels.
Otherness works by starting from the self. First, we decide who we are and what belongs to us. Then we decide who does not fit into that image. The other is defined in relation to our identity, not on their own terms. It is like drawing a circle around ourselves and saying that whoever stands outside it is different.
Because of this, otherness is often tied to power and politics. A dominant group may use difference to separate, exclude, or push others to the margins. The process is sometimes called “othering,” meaning that difference is turned into distance. Instead of meeting a person as a full human being, they are reduced to what makes them different.

What Is Alterity?

Alterity refers to a difference that cannot be fully grasped or explained. It points to the idea that the other person remains different in a deep and lasting way, no matter how much we try to understand them.
The core idea of alterity is that the other is deeply different. This means they cannot be completely translated into our language, our experiences, or our way of thinking. Even when we listen carefully and try to relate, something about the other always remains beyond our reach.
Alterity works through a contact with another person rather than definition. We meet someone, and through that encounter we realise that there is something about them we cannot fully explain or become part of ourselves. This gap between us does not close over time. Instead of disappearing, it stays there and shapes the relationship. Alterity asks us to accept this distance, not as separation, but as respect for the other’s uniqueness.

The Distinction

The difference between otherness and alterity is about a deeper change in how we see and treat other people.
When someone is seen through otherness, difference becomes a shortcut. The person is quickly turned into a label such as a foreigner, a competitor, or a minority. Their entire existence is reduced to one feature that separates them from us. This makes stereotyping easy because the person is no longer seen as an individual, but as an example of a category.
Alterity changes this attitude. It does not seek to eliminate difference through labels or assimilation. Instead, it accepts that the other person can never be fully understood or defined, and it is in acknowledging and respecting this very gap that a real meeting between two people becomes possible.

Final Thoughts

Otherness often seeks to assimilate or exclude, and it says: you are different from us. It points to a difference that we can see, name, and place outside ourselves.
Alterity, on the other hand, requires responsibility and welcome, and it says: your difference exceeds us. It recognises that the other goes beyond our understanding and cannot be fully explained by our idea, language, or perspective.