The Discovery of the Other's Freedom

Being and Nothingness

This thread traces how certainty about another person emerges through the lived experience of being looked at rather than through inference.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Person in the Park A Person in the Park from "Being and Nothingness". A Person in the Park An Object Among Objects A passerby first appears within a field of benches, grass, and trees.

A Person in the Park from "Being and Nothingness". A Person in the Park An Object Among Objects A passerby first appears within a field of benches, grass, and trees.

A Person in the Park An Object Among Objects A passerby first appears within a field of benches, grass, and trees. Yet the scene begins to reorganize around the person. Significance The Other is not merely an extra object. His presence changes the observer's world by orienting it elsewhere.

The World Drains Away The World Drains Away from "Being and Nothingness". The World Drains Away Decentering The objects around the passerby seem to relate to one another from a center the observer does not occupy.

The World Drains Away from "Being and Nothingness". The World Drains Away Decentering The objects around the passerby seem to relate to one another from a center the observer does not occupy.

The World Drains Away Decentering The objects around the passerby seem to relate to one another from a center the observer does not occupy. Alienation The world remains present but escapes the observer's organization. The Other appears as the source of a competing perspective.

The Look Revealed The Look Revealed from "Being and Nothingness". The Look Revealed Beyond the Eyes A rustle, a shutter, or a visible pair of eyes may occasion the experience of being seen.

The Look Revealed from "Being and Nothingness". The Look Revealed Beyond the Eyes A rustle, a shutter, or a visible pair of eyes may occasion the experience of being seen.

The Look Revealed Beyond the Eyes A rustle, a shutter, or a visible pair of eyes may occasion the experience of being seen. The look itself is not an object in the world. Self-Recognition The observer apprehends himself as vulnerable, located, and exposed to another freedom.

The Look as Certainty The Look as Certainty from "Being and Nothingness". The Look as Certainty Subject Before Object The empirical person who might be watching remains probable, but being-looked-at is immediately experienced as a…

The Look as Certainty from "Being and Nothingness". The Look as Certainty Subject Before Object The empirical person who might be watching remains probable, but being-looked-at is immediately experienced as a…

The Look as Certainty Subject Before Object The empirical person who might be watching remains probable, but being-looked-at is immediately experienced as a relation to a subject. Distinction The certainty of the Other-as-subject cannot be transferred to any particular object that appears to manifest the look.

Freedom Outside Reach Freedom Outside Reach from "Being and Nothingness". Freedom Outside Reach Objectivity's Source The Other's freedom makes the self an object, yet that freedom cannot be known as an object without disappearing as…

Freedom Outside Reach from "Being and Nothingness". Freedom Outside Reach Objectivity's Source The Other's freedom makes the self an object, yet that freedom cannot be known as an object without disappearing as…

Freedom Outside Reach Objectivity's Source The Other's freedom makes the self an object, yet that freedom cannot be known as an object without disappearing as subject. Result The look establishes an incontestable but irreducible relation between freedoms, grounding the continuing conflict of being-for-others.

Part Three, Chapter One, Section IV

Part Three, Chapter One, Section IV, park example

Part Three, Chapter One, Section IV, discussion of the look

Part Three, Chapter One, Section IV, discussion of certainty

Part Three, Chapter One, Section IV, conclusion