more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The essential principle of phenomenology is that 'all consciousness is consciousness of something'.
Gist of Idea
Phenomenology assumes that all consciousness is of something
Source
Jean-Paul Sartre (Transcendence of the Ego [1937], I (B))
Book Ref
Sartre,Jean-Paul: 'The Transcendence of the Ego' [Routledge 2004], p.10
A Reaction
This idea is found well before Husserl, in Schopenhauer (Idea 4166). It seems to contradict a thought such as Locke's (Idea 1202), that self-awareness is a separate and distinct criterion for personal identity. Sartre gives a nice account.
Related Ideas
Idea 4166 A consciousness without an object is no consciousness [Schopenhauer]
Idea 1202 A person is intelligent, rational, self-aware, continuous, conscious [Locke]