John Holland Nov 24, 2012:

On adding "person": "other" vs. "Other" In French, and especially Lacanian, psychoanalysis, there is a distinction between "l'autre" with a lowercase "a" and "l'Autre" with a capital "A."

For one discussion of this, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lacan#Other.2Fother
The "other" is generally (but not exclusively) another person (in his or her otherness), whereas the "Other" is something like "radical alterity" or an ultimate guarantee.

This is relevant in that the author cited, René Kaës, in fact is a French psychoanalyst, known for his work on group therapy. See: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Kaës

Although the difference can be expressed with capitalization, I often like to add "person" to the lower-case "other," just to be clear and because I think it tends to sound a bit better. But that's a stylistic preference. In the context of the text we're translating here, it is clear that it is a question of openness to otherness as such, not only a specific other person, so I can see leaving "person" out, as well.

Just Opera Nov 24, 2012:

IMO it means "the other" here i.e in opposition to the same and not the "other person". More the idea to take a "multi cultural" perspective.

John Holland Nov 24, 2012:

A reference for "thinking along with the other" Here's a reference in which "think along with the other" person is used in a similar context. It's from an academic paper that is adequately well known - Google Scholar reports that the paper has been cited 235 times.

See p. 388 of: http://obssr.od.nih.gov/issh/2012/files/Vennix 1999.pdf :

"...if both previous requirements are met, one should also be able to change one's own behaviour significantly in order to break through a self-fulfilling prophecy and change the "inevitable'' social reality. This can be particularly difficult. In the example where two people continuously try to convince each other, the simple rule to break the vicious cycle (and to see that social reality is actually constructed by our own behaviour) is to act in the opposite manner: start listening and think along with the other person. The rule is deceptively simple, but it can prove extremely difficult to apply consistently."

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=700053126082778722...

I like the addition of "person" at the end, myself.