being-for-the-other

This chapter explores the complex relationship between the body and consciousness, distinguishing between the body as it is experienced from within (being-for-itself) and the body as an object perceived by others (being-for-the-Other). Sartre argues that the body cannot be fully understood by merging these two perspectives, as they exist on different ontological levels, and critiques the reduction of bodily experience to purely physical or external descriptions. He also challenges traditional philosophical views, such as Cartesian dualism and the notion of 'double sensation,' emphasizing the irreducibility of the lived body to an objectified body.

This chapter explores the concrete relations between the for-itself and the Other, emphasizing how the body situates these relations and how the for-itself is defined by its negation of the in-itself. Sartre discusses the dialectic of freedom and objectification that arises in the presence of the Other, highlighting two fundamental attitudes: attempting to assimilate the Other's freedom or transcending it. The chapter concludes by framing these relations as inherently conflictual and circular, with the Other's gaze both possessing and revealing the being-for-the-Other.