Postcards from the Funny Farm

Emmanuel Lévinas¹ was onto something big when he talked about the psychology of the “Other:“ He said, in part, that: the audience, or receiver of language is more important than the “I.” In other words: to be persuasive, one needs to consider the audience².

A way to do this is to find and define 1-3 terms that have to do with the Other. (even one will do, and more than three is not necessary) For example, I knew a person in college from the Phillipines, that person’s background was foreign to me, and yet, we still had to work productively together in groups for a semester in grad school. I needed to make a bridge.

I did a little research on the Phillipines and discovered the Phillipino language is not “Phillipino” as one would think, but rather a language called “Tagalog.” When I asked this friend if he spoke Tagalog, he replied with a shocked: “You know Tagalog?” And we went on to be effective students and friends together from then on.

The Other’s mind in this case opened up because I validated something in its sphere, rather than my own.

Whether one is at work writing documents, giving oral presentations, writing for web situations, or trying to get ones spouse to listen (practical application!), this strategy is a valuable resource. More is linked on Lévinas in the footer of this post. Also - if one is a blogger: you can read more detail on consideration of audience in blog writing, click h.... The more focused “Other” terms one has access to in dialog or presentation, the more liked and successfull one will be with it, and that will always be important when presenting ones case.

1. Emmanuel Lévinas [↩]
2. consider the audience [↩]