Single Idea 7124

[catalogued under 16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 3. Limits of Introspection]

Full Idea

The Ego never appears except when we are not looking for it.

Gist of Idea

The Ego never appears except when we are not looking for it

Source

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

Book Reference

Sartre,Jean-Paul: 'The Transcendence of the Ego' [Routledge 2004], p.39


A Reaction

He denies that we know the Ego when engaged with the world, and agrees with Hume that the ego can't be directly known. All that is left is this, which seems to be introspection 'out of the corner of your eye'. Not persuasive.