“Sideways” gaze or thinking (R. Barthes, F. Jullien) refers to a specific type of intercultural philosophy that, more than others, allows us to disengage from the conditioning and prejudices that we suffer when we try to understand a different culture, civilization or religion. This paper identifies and discusses the characteristics of this intercultural approach and shows which theoretical structures and precautions are the most helpful to avoid an erroneous or stereotyped image of the “other”. These structures are based on a particular idea of ‘difference’ that requires to consider as “interdependent variables” (G. Pasqualotto) not only the different compared cultures, but also the point of view from which the comparison is made.
