Segalen grounded the encounter with the Other in aesthetics, not morality

Evidence

Segalen’s crucial idea was that encountering the Other superactivates poetic imagination and understanding. Of course, from that moment on there could be no question of hierarchy in pursuit of relations with the other. Let me point out, however, that Segalen do es not merely describe recognition of the other as a moral obligation (which would be a banality) but he considers it an aesthetic constituent, the first edict of a real poetics of Relation. The power to experience the shock of elsewhere is what distinguishes the poet. Diversity, the quantifiable totality of every possible difference, is the motar driving universal energy, and it must be safeguarded from assimilations, from fashions passively accepted as the norm, and from standardized customs. — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 214

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Diversity as the quantifiable totality of every possible difference — Glissant’s technical sense, distinct from mere pluralism.
• XREF: connects to: The other is an aesthetic constituent, not a moral obligation. — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 213

Broader Connections

• The other is an aesthetic constituent, not a moral obligation. #corroborates (1.00) — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 213