Abstract

Considering José Cadalso’s Noches Lúgubres [Lugubrious Nights], the article reflects on the possibilities ofrecognizing the other as a condition for an effective process of alterity. In Tediato, the main character and whois plunged into darkness, it is possible to recognize an existential condition pushed to the limit, which needs thepresence of the other to unveil another possibility of meaning. A reunion with oneself is, then, the condition for anopening to the other, which appears as a new existential possibility because the vital meaning of existence dependslargely on our relationship with others. Hence, the relevance of understanding that human beings become humanas long as they have the ability of coming out of themselves to give themselves without reciprocity.