This article is the first part of the study on the analysis of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the phenomenon of the Other/Alien. The object of this study is the phenomenon of the Other/Alien, and the subject is the theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the problem of the Other/Alien. The author of the article considers the indicated problems from the standpoint of its evolution from philosophical understanding to transformation into an object of historical and cultural discourse. Turning to the views of ancient thinkers, theological position on this issue in the Middle Ages and the theoretical substantiations of the problem in the New and Modern times, philosophers, beginning with phenomenology and ending with existentialism, the author comes to the conclusion that the phenomenon of the Other / Alien has gone a long way from the Plato’s «Mirror» to the Other as an object that influences the formation of the subjective existential experience of man. Unfortunately, the scope of the study does not allow the inclusion of other approaches in this article. This circumstance forces the author to continue research in this direction and to touch on the methodological approaches to investigating the Other / Alien from the standpoint of structuralism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism and the theory of small groups.
