In The Transcendence of the Self, Sartre explores the traditional rationalist understanding of man and critically engages with Husserl's phenomenology.
The importance lies in the fact that it allows Sartre to affirm and position the negation of Descartes and to present his account of pre-reflection in such a way"I think, therefore I am"thus proclaims the philosophical basis of ontological phenomenological thinking.
In the text, self-discovery is the result of a process of observation and reflection, which consists of three steps.
The first step is to be aware of the existence of consciousness. The second step is to discover what is not conscious, that is, the world that consciousness is aware of. The final step is to discover the self that is not the world.
Although it is consciousness itself that is first discovered or realized in the process, Sartre argues that his view differs from traditional idealism in that his argument does not, as idealism claims, that reality originates from consciousness.
Sartre's point is simply that we are confronted with consciousness in the first place. The world itself is not composed or supported by consciousness, because consciousness itself needs the world and depends on the existence of the world so that it can exist and be possible in the first place.
The existence of consciousness depends on the existence of the world because consciousness exists as the consciousness of something.
Since consciousness exists as awareness of something, something must already exist for consciousness to be aware of it.
Thus, in Being and Nothingness consciousness is supported by a being that is not its own.
The same is true of Sartre's discovery process, consciousness is the awareness of a particular thing.
This particular thing is the world, and it tells consciousness that it is not the world itself, but something that is aware of the world and its existence.
Consciousness does not create the world out of thin air. Consciousness creates the world that already exists and is available through the interpretation and reinterpretation of the world.
The world exists in its availability so that consciousness can grasp and interpret it.
In Sartre's view, consciousness is always self-awareness. This means that when a person is conscious, his consciousness is also aware that he is aware of something. That is, consciousness always involves and contains self-awareness.
In this state of pre-reflective consciousness, there is no ego, no individual. In this state of pre-reflexive consciousness, the consciousness is only aware that it is aware of something.
What is involved in this state is only conscious action, the act of turning to the world, trying to grasp the world.
with Descartes"I think, therefore I am"The formula is the opposite, and Sartre's formula can be"Conscious, therefore I am"。However, this awareness is still not one"Me"；It is still lacking"Me"。This is another difference between Sartre and Descartes and Husserl.
The three levels of consciousness
According to Sartre, the first level is pre-reflective consciousness. At this level, consciousness is simply awareness of something.
At this level, consciousness is simply an act; It is a conscious act, an awareness of something.
The second level of consciousness is reflective awareness. The third level is self-reflective awareness. In the third level, consciousness becomes its own object.
The examples of reading illustrate the difference between these three levels of consciousness. The level of pre-reflection includes being aware of the room you are reading, the chair you are sitting on, the temperature of the room, the design of the room, etc.
The level of reflection is reflected in different ways: it aims to read a book, understand its meaning, read between the lines, and try to connect everything. This level of consciousness involves and contains a certain level of reflection.
When a person thinks he is reading, his consciousness reaches the third level. In this way of thinking of seeing oneself as reading oneself, people begin to read about themselves and about themselves.
People begin to reflect on themselves and engage in the act of reading reflexively.
According to Sartre, such levels or moments of consciousness do not occur or appear in order, they do not come one after the other. For Sartre, these levels occur simultaneously, and they merge with each other.
This act of reading leads to the disappearance and destruction of the self. Sartre argues that when one devotes oneself to reading, I am immersed in the world of objects; It is they that make up the unity of my consciousness.
But I, I'm gone; I have annihilated myself. There is no place for me at this level.
This means that consciousness is formed and constituted by the objects that permeate the world, because consciousness is always aware of something.
In this process, the ego does not exist, it is not responsible, it does not exist. There is no rational, central, and personal in this process"Me"。
There is only consciousness, only consciousness of something, and its three levels exist at the same time.
How is the ego formed?
Me"It is transcendental. It belongs to this world and only appears when there is a world.
Because it is in this world, it also suffers from the same vulnerability, constantly threatening all objects in this world. Sartre thinks.
It must assert"Only absolute consciousness exists absolutely", rather than actually expressing it as"Only I am absolute", which is obviously an indisputable fact.
Actually, mine"Me"No more than others'"Me"More deterministic awareness. It's just more intimate.
The world and"Me"They are all objects that stand on top of consciousness, and they are also objects of consciousness.
Me"Neither the center of our existence nor the origin of our existence. Consciousness is at the heart of existence and therefore gives itself a self.
Therefore,"Ego"It's nothing more than an object; It is detached from consciousness; It is created by consciousness as an object.
My ego is waiting for me and depends on me so that it can arise and be possible.
There is also a correlation between the world and consciousness. Consciousness created the world, created its world; Consciousness creates the world in the process of encountering it by interpreting things outside of itself.
Consciousness gives meaning to its surroundings, thus turning them into a world.
This face-to-face with the things around oneself is the origin of the self.
In encounters with those around them, man creates himself and the world through his own projects.