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Full Idea
I should like to show here that the Ego is neither formally nor materially in consciousness; it is outside, in the world; it is a being in the world, like the Ego of another.
Clarification
The Ego is out in the world, not a formal or material part of consciousness
Gist of Idea
The Ego is not formally or materially part of consciousness, but is outside in the world
Source
Jean-Paul Sartre (Transcendence of the Ego [1937], Intro)
Book Ref
Sartre,Jean-Paul: 'The Transcendence of the Ego' [Routledge 2004], p.1
A Reaction
This idea is the germ of what has got modern externalists about the mind (see quotations from Mark Rowlands) interested in Sartre. Personally I think he is wrong, and the Ego is a part of consciousness. It doesn't, though, have sharp boundaries.
| 22019 | Consciousness of an object always entails awareness of the self [Fichte] |
| 5381 | In seeing the sun, we are acquainted with our self, but not as a permanent person [Russell] |
| 7106 | The Ego is not formally or materially part of consciousness, but is outside in the world [Sartre] |
| 9264 | Persons are distinguished by a capacity for second-order desires [Frankfurt] |
| 9266 | A person essentially has second-order volitions, and not just second-order desires [Frankfurt] |
| 4881 | Being a person must involve having second-order beliefs and desires (about beliefs and desires) [Dennett] |
| 2506 | If I have a set of mental modules, someone had better be in charge of them! [Fodor] |
| 3223 | Self-consciousness may just be nested intentionality [Rey] |
| 20589 | Maybe a person's true self is their second-order desires [Tuckness/Wolf] |