Hear

Heredotus was aware of man's sedentary nature and realized that to get to know Others you must set off on a journey, go to them, and show a desire to meet them; so he kept travelling, visiting the Egyptians and the Scythians, the Persians and the Lydians, remembering everything he heard from them, as well as what he saw for himself. In short, he wanted to know them because he understood that to know ourselves we have to know Others, who act as the mirror in which we see ourselves reflected; he knew that to understand ourselves better we have to understand Others, to compare ourselves with them, to measure ourselves against them. As a citizen of the world, he did not believe that we should isolate ourselves from Others, or slam the gates in their faces. Xenophobia, Herodotus implied, is a sickness of people who are scared, suffering an inferiority complex, terrified by the prospect of seeing themselves in the mirror of the culture of Others.