Blushing reveals consciousness of one’s body as a thing for the Other
Evidence
To “feel oneself blushing,” to “feel oneself sweating,” etc., are inaccurate expressions which the shy person uses to describe his state; what he really means is that he is vividly and constantly conscious of his body not as it is for him but as it is for the Other. This constant uneasiness, which is the apprehension of my body’s alienation as irremediable, can determine psychoses such as ereutophobia (a pathological fear of blushing); these are nothing but the horrified metaphysical apprehension of the existence of my body for the Others. We often say that the shy man is “embarrassed by his own body.” Actually this expression is incorrect; I can not be embarrassed by my own body as I exist it. It is my body as it is for the Other which may embarrass me. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 916
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the body-for-the-Other as the inapprehensible, alienated dimension of the body, contrasted with the body-for-itself.
- XREF: Directly foreshadows Sartre’s analysis of the gaze and shame, and sets up Beauvoir’s treatment of female embodiment as being-for-the-other. — connects to: Involuntary signals like blushing solve credibility without willpower — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 617; The Other’s look reveals my body as an object-for-others — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 913; Emotions take distinct bodily forms localized in specific organs (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Shame first reveals one’s factical body because the Other’s look falls on embodiment
#corroborates(0.85) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 97 - Involuntary signals like blushing solve credibility without willpower
#expands(0.82) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 617 - The Other’s look reveals my body as an object-for-others
#expands(0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 913 - Emotions take distinct bodily forms localized in specific organs
#exemplifies(0.80)