The question of how to confront the spectral Other in the digital age returns to Hegel’s reflection on the Other. In fact, Hegel distinguishes two different kinds of otherness. The first Other is an Other as an object. Through the negation of the object, self-consciousness realizes the utilization of things, thus realizing the cycle of self-consciousness. However, one self-consciousness will also encounter another self-conscious other, and through a “life-and-death struggle”, a master-slave relationship is formed between the two self-consciousnesses. In the slave’s recognition of the master, the slave de-substantializes himself and becomes the agent of the master, thus guaranteeing the consummation of the master’s self-consciousness. In the digital age, we are confronted with a third Other. On the one hand, it is irreducible to a pure material object, and on the other hand, it communicates with us through intelligent algorithms and big data. This is the concept of the third Other. The only way to secure the status of self-consciousness in the face of the third Other is panarchy, an indeterminate metaphorical concept that offers a path to a future form of self-consciousness in the digital world.

Editor: Zhong Yao、Zheng Yifan

From:Journal of Central China Normal University(Humanities and Social Sciences).2023.No.3.