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Full Idea
Sartre's attack on the idea that consciousness has contents is an attack on the idea that the mental possesses features that are hidden, inner and constituted or revealed by the individual's inwardly directed awareness.
Gist of Idea
Sartre rejects mental content, and the idea that the mind has hidden inner features
Source
report of Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness [1943]) by Mark Rowlands - Externalism Ch.5
Book Ref
Rowlands,Mark: 'Externalism' [Acumen 2003], p.76
A Reaction
This is part of the move towards 'externalism' about the mind. The notion of 'content' implies a container. It seems slightly ridiculous, though, to try to say that the mind just 'is the world'. How is reasoning possible, and the relation of ideas?
| 22227 | For Sartre there is only being for-itself, or being in-itself (which is beyond experience) [Sartre, by Daigle] |
| 6151 | Sartre says consciousness is just directedness towards external objects [Sartre, by Rowlands] |
| 6164 | Sartre rejects mental content, and the idea that the mind has hidden inner features [Sartre, by Rowlands] |
| 22228 | Sartre's freedom is not for whimsical action, but taking responsibility for our own values [Sartre, by Daigle] |
| 20760 | Sincerity is not authenticity, because it only commits to one particular identity [Sartre, by Aho] |
| 7074 | Man is a useless passion [Sartre] |
| 20743 | Appearances do not hide the essence; appearances are the essence [Sartre] |
| 22233 | Love is the demand to be loved [Sartre] |
| 6687 | Man is the desire to be God [Sartre] |
| 20755 | Fear concerns the world, but 'anguish' comes from confronting my self [Sartre] |
| 22231 | We flee from the anguish of freedom by seeing ourselves objectively, as determined [Sartre] |