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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]
|
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]
|
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]
|
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]
|
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]
|
7117
|
How could two I's, the reflective and the reflected, communicate with each other?
[Sartre]
|
7114
|
The consciousness that says 'I think' is not the consciousness that thinks
[Sartre]
|
7112
|
The Cogito depends on a second-order experience, of being conscious of consciousness
[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]
|
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]
|
7120
|
It is theoretically possible that the Ego consists entirely of false memories
[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]
|