Single Idea 7121

[catalogued under 16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self]

Full Idea

The Ego is an object that appears only to reflection, and is thereby radically cut off from the World.

Gist of Idea

The Ego only appears to reflection, so it is cut off from the World

Source

Jean-Paul Sartre (Transcendence of the Ego [1937], II (D))

Book Reference

Sartre,Jean-Paul: 'The Transcendence of the Ego' [Routledge 2004], p.36


A Reaction

This is the culmination of Sartre's attack (in 1937) on the Ego, paving the way for the freedom of existentialism. Personally I don't accept this picture of the Ego as a second-order fiction. My Ego is part of my relationship with the World.