Abstract: “The other” is related to both epistemological difference and ontological externality. In the stage of “words-text” and “text-historical context”, “the other” as epistemological difference received universal attention, and correspondingly, hermeneutic was regarded as the skill or art to understand “the other”. In the stage of “tradition-the subject in understanding”, “the other” as ontological externality became evident. It is clear that the benign development of the hermeneutic circle demands seeking common ground with “the other” at the epistemological level on the one hand, and reserving differences with “the other” at the ontological level on the other. It remains as a difficult theoretical problem for hermeneutics to keep the balance of these two levels.