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Single Idea 7108

[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind ]

Full Idea

The unity of the thousand active consciousnesses through which I have added two and two to make four, is the transcendent object '2+2=4'. Without the permanence of this eternal truth, it would be impossible to conceive of a real unity of mind.

Gist of Idea

The eternal truth of 2+2=4 is what gives unity to the mind which regularly thinks it

Source

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

Book Ref

Sartre,Jean-Paul: 'The Transcendence of the Ego' [Routledge 2004], p.6

A Reaction

This is the germ of externalism, here presented as a Platonic attitude to arithmetic, rather than being about water or gold. He claims that internalist attitudes to unity are fictions. I am inclined to think he is wrong, and that unity is biological.

The 21 ideas from 'Transcendence of the Ego'

22226 Since we are a consciousness, Sartre entirely rejected the unconscious mind [Sartre, by Daigle]
7106 The Ego is not formally or materially part of consciousness, but is outside in the world [Sartre]
7125 A consciousness can conceive of no other consciousness than itself [Sartre]
7107 Intentionality defines, transcends and unites consciousness [Sartre]
7109 If you think of '2+2=4' as the content of thought, the self must be united transcendentally [Sartre]
7108 The eternal truth of 2+2=4 is what gives unity to the mind which regularly thinks it [Sartre]
7111 Consciousness exists as consciousness of itself [Sartre]
7110 If the 'I' is transcendental, it unnecessarily splits consciousness in two [Sartre]
7115 Maybe it is the act of reflection that brings 'me' into existence [Sartre]
7112 The Cogito depends on a second-order experience, of being conscious of consciousness [Sartre]
7114 The consciousness that says 'I think' is not the consciousness that thinks [Sartre]
7117 How could two I's, the reflective and the reflected, communicate with each other? [Sartre]
7113 Phenomenology assumes that all consciousness is of something [Sartre]
7116 When we are unreflective (as when chasing a tram) there is no 'I' [Sartre]
7119 Is the Cogito reporting an immediate experience of doubting, or the whole enterprise of doubting? [Sartre]
7122 We can never, even in principle, grasp other minds, because the Ego is self-conceiving [Sartre]
7120 It is theoretically possible that the Ego consists entirely of false memories [Sartre]
7124 The Ego never appears except when we are not looking for it [Sartre]
7123 Knowing yourself requires an exterior viewpoint, which is necessarily false [Sartre]
7121 The Ego only appears to reflection, so it is cut off from the World [Sartre]
22225 My ego is more intimate to me, but not more certain than other egos [Sartre]