Paradoxes of Cultural Identity: Self – Other as a Basic Concept of Intercultural Communication

The article investigates the paradoxical nature of the “Self – Other” dichotomy as a fundamental concept of intercultural communication. In the context of globalization and the intensification of cross-cultural contacts, this opposition loses its unambiguously barrier-like character and reveals a complex dialectical structure that generates a number of contradictions that appear irresolvable at first glance. The methodological framework combines four complementary approaches: hermeneutical (H.-G. Gadamer’s concept of the “fusion of horizons”), dialogical (M.M. Bakhtin’s theory of dialogue), phenomenological (E. Levinas’s ethics of the Other), and semiotic (Yu.M. Lotman’s model of cultural boundary). Five paradoxes of cultural identity within the “Self – Other” system are identified and described: ontological, globalization-related, ethical, semiotic, and the paradox of hybridity. It is established that none of them can be resolved by eliminating one of the poles of the opposition, and that each requires a dialogical strategy. A conceptual model is proposed in which the axiological mechanisms of intercultural communication – dialogue of cultures, reflexive dialogue, and value demarcation – serve as operational responses to the described paradoxes. The Russian civilizational context is examined as a model case of liminal identity in which theoretical contradictions manifest with particular clarity.