Abstract

When we think of Sartre's proposal for a theory of alterity in Being and Nothingness, our attention often turns to his famous and original analysis of “the look of the other”. The moment when Sartre presents this analysis in his work is characterised by the author's effort to escape from the problem of solipsism, and the development of a “phenomenology of the look” is presented as a decisive response to the problem. However, Sartre's critics have shown how problematic this response is, insofar as it favours the “being-seeing” - a dimension acquired through a metamorphosis that the look of the other is capable of provoking in the subject - as what would guarantee an effective relationship of otherness. In this work, I try to return to these criticisms in order to highlight their limits, and then change the focus, bringing to the fore the "backstage" of the look that directs us towards a way out of solipsism.