Helplessness and alterity: the self and the double face of the other

Abstract

This article deals with the notion of alterity (otherness), which is inextricably coupled, in Freudian works, to the state of helplessness of the human being. The newborn, due to its motor and psychic underdevelopment, is unable to satisfy on its own the vital needs for survival, therefore entailing a dependence on the other, a condition that shapes ones self. Alterity is analysed as a complex with double face, woven into a relationship that refers both to the familiar and the strange, which creates a risk for the self: there is no guarantee about what to expect from the other. We will delve into this defining state of early life, which throws ones being into the field of the other, and of language and culture, to show how the process of psychic constitution takes place. We propose that helplessness is associated to the uncertainty and lack of assurances given by the other.