1903

Du Bois — Double consciousness and seeing oneself through others’ eyes

Is seeing oneself through both one’s own and a dominant society’s eyes only a wound of division, or also an epistemic resource?

W. E. B. Du Bois The Souls of Black Folk

Evidence-backed account

Du Bois names double consciousness as the conflict of experiencing oneself through one’s own standpoint and the appraising gaze of a racist society.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

Double Consciousness
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: §1 The Trajectory of the Concept; The Souls of Black Folk passage
Open source

Whether “second sight” automatically grants privileged insight into dominant society or primarily diagnoses self-alienation remains disputed in the text and its reception.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

Double Consciousness
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: §2 Double-Consciousness in The Souls of Black Folk; §4 Contemporary interpretations
Open source

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