Single Idea 7117

[catalogued under 16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self]

Full Idea

If the 'I' is part of consciousness, there will be two I's: the reflective and the reflected. ...but it is unacceptable for any communication to be established between the reflective I and the reflected I, if they are real elements of consciousness.

Gist of Idea

How could two I's, the reflective and the reflected, communicate with each other?

Source

Jean-Paul Sartre (Transcendence of the Ego [1937], I (B))

Book Reference

Sartre,Jean-Paul: 'The Transcendence of the Ego' [Routledge 2004], p.15


A Reaction

If we accept that there are two orders of consciousness (reflective, about itself, and reflected, about the world) it seems reasonable to say that there cannot be an 'I' in both of them. A nice, and intriguing, argument.