Even first-person knowledge of my own body is mediated by the Other’s concepts

Evidence

The Illness which I suffer I can aim at in its In-itself; that is, precisely in its being-for-others. At this moment I know it; that is, I aim at it in its dimension of being which escapes me, at the face which it turns toward Others, and my aim is impregnated with the wisdom which language has brought to me;—i.e., I utilize instrumental concepts which come to me from the Other, and which I should in no case have been able to form by myself or think of directing upon my body. It is by means of the Other’s concepts that I know my body. But it follows that even in reflection I assume the Other’s point of view on my body; I try to apprehend it as if I were the Other in relation to it. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 919

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to Beauvoir’s reliance on Sartre’s structure of self-knowledge via the Other — the stated reading purpose for this book. — connects to: The Other is the being through whom I can attain any objective self-knowledge — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 747; The Other grounds my objectivity rather than being inferred by analogy from myself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 756; Body knowledge becomes cognitive only through the gaze of the Other. (+6 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies how the In-itself dimension of the lived body is constituted through being-for-others.

Broader Connections

• All empirical knowledge of one’s own body derives from the Other and alienates it #corroborates (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 919
• The Other’s look reveals my body as an object-for-others #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 913