The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism
Philosophical Perspectives on
Hospitality
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
INDIVIDUAL MORAL
PHILOSOPHY: HOST
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Hospitality
 ‘a reciprocal right to protection and shelter’
Or
 ‘the act of taking somebody into one’s home without any
thought of recompense. It brings together an action (a
welcome), an attitude (the opening of oneself to the face of
another, whether that somebody is poor or a passing
traveller, and the opening of one’s door and the offering of
the space of one’s house to a stranger), and a principle
(disinterestedness).’
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
What makes someone a hospitable person?
• Personal characteristics e.g. appearance, personality
• The manner in which hospitality is provided e.g.
giving of a ‘gift’
• Management of the process of hospitality e.g.
service quality
• Resultant benefits for host and guest e.g.
satisfactions
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Jacques Derrida
“Unconditional hospitality implies that
you don’t ask the other, the newcomer,
the guest to give anything back, or even
to identify himself or herself. Even if the
other deprives you of your mastery or
your home, you have to accept this. It is
terrible to accept this, but that is the
condition of unconditional hospitality:
that you give up the mastery of your
space, your home, your nation. It is
unbearable. If, however, there is pure
hospitality, it should be pushed to this
extreme”
(Derrida 1998b:71).
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Emmanuel Levinas
‘Face: ‘the way the
Other presents
himself, something
that goes beyond the
mere notion of the
Other as he exists in
me… A face is a
living presence… an
expression… A face
speaks. It manifests
itself immediately as a
discourse.’
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Tahar Ben Jelloun
 ‘Receiving somebody as a guest is a passive
phenomenon by which you fill yourself with the
other person’.
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Nature of Hospitality?
 ‘I will give him even more than I have.’
 ‘My guest is more important than my home’
 ‘it imparts an idea of infinity. But it also means
learning something.’
 ‘Hospitality doesn’t always imply reciprocity.’
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
The Test of Hospitality
 ‘When another person comes to my house, he
teaches me things about myself. His mere presence
makes me confront myself. He upsets my space and
my habits and teaches me what I am. It’s a kind of
test. My accessibility.. ought to be wide and
unlimited - .. Real. There should be no mask, no
placating. No question of pretending or forcing
oneself. Welcome and feigning are incompatible.’
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
HOSPITALITY AND THE
NATION STATES
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Hospitality and the Nation States
•
Hospitality between peoples and states
•
Emigration versus immigration
•
Hospitality and postcolonial theory
•
Fortress Europe
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
“We know that there are numerous what we call
‘displaced persons’ who are applying for the right to
asylum without being citizens, without being identified
as citizens. It is not for speculative or ethical reasons
that I am interested in unconditional hospitality, but in
order to understand and to transform what is going on
today in our world.”
(Derrida 1998b:71).
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Moroccan Hospitality
‘ a tradition, a part of the Moroccan character,
the legacy of a culture… that isn’t to say…
total and unqualified… will be hospitable to
a stranger, will provide bed and breakfast
generously and with pleasure. But he won’t
give up his privacy. He may be a good host
but he doesn’t really open up.’
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Hospitality Paradox
‘Travellers often stay without paying a
penny…. Perfectly natural… a pleasure.. A
source of pride… part of cultural tradition…
act of entertaining a guest… both honours
and humanizes the host…. Makes the guest
recognise ..host as someone capable of
sharing… improves my status, as someone
capable of existing in relation to others’.
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Kant – Guest Obligations
 Universal hospitality
 ‘A right to visit is not the right to stay.’
 This is a conditional hospitality: the foreigner must
be on his best behaviour.
 If his conduct is disruptive or objectionable he
should be deported, unless that puts his life in
danger.
 Kant also says that the natural relationship between
man and man is a state of war
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Questions:
 How are we to pass from home to the space
of a whole nation?
 How can the law be made to include the right
to hospitality?
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
POTENTIAL FOR
DISCONTENTMENT AND
BIAS
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Racism is caused by
hospitality thresholds
and boundaries?
“Unconditional hospitality
implies that you don’t ask
the other, the newcomer,
the guest to give anything
back, or even to identify
himself or herself”
(Derrida 1998:71)
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Questions:
 To what extent is hospitality at a national level the
same as hospitality at an individual level?
 What relevance, if any, does hospitality at a national
level have to hospitality at an individual level?
 Hospitality is what brings people together.
 There’s no such thing as fly-by-night hospitality.
It’s either immutable or it doesn’t exist.’
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Hospitableness
 Can ‘commercial hospitality’ be hospitable?
 What makes someone a hospitable person?
 Differences between hospitality and
friendship?
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010
Various Philosophical Perspectives:
 Indicate the potential complexities of the
phenomenon of hospitality
 Demonstrate the potential for misinterpretation of
the past, when applied to the present, and the
potential for bias
 Although influential, a clear and coherent
philosophy of hospitality has yet to be proposed.
O’Gorman, The Origins of Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers © 2010