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Full Idea
The Ego can be conceived only through itself and this is why we cannot grasp the consciousness of another (for this reason alone, and not because bodies separate us).
Gist of Idea
We can never, even in principle, grasp other minds, because the Ego is self-conceiving
Source
Jean-Paul Sartre (Transcendence of the Ego [1937], II (D))
Book Ref
Sartre,Jean-Paul: 'The Transcendence of the Ego' [Routledge 2004], p.37
A Reaction
Interesting. This makes telepathy a logical impossibility, and the body the only possible route for the communication between two minds. But, is Sartre is right, how do bodily events penetrate the inturned world of the Ego?
| 1799 | If we can't know minds, we can't know if Pyrrho was a sceptic [Theodosius, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 7125 | A consciousness can conceive of no other consciousness than itself [Sartre] |
| 7122 | We can never, even in principle, grasp other minds, because the Ego is self-conceiving [Sartre] |
| 5662 | Maybe induction could never prove the existence of something unobservable [Ayer] |
| 5177 | Other minds are 'metaphysical' objects, because I can never observe their experiences [Ayer] |
| 8866 | If we know other minds through behaviour, but not our own, we should assume they aren't like me [Davidson] |