Jean-Paul Sartre and Consciousness

Study Notes

Jean-Paul Sartre was a French philosopher born on June 21, 1905, in Paris, France.
He died on April 15, 1980, at the age of 74 in Paris.
He was a philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic.
He was a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism.
He received the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Key works include Existentialism is a Humanism (1945), Being and Nothingness (1943), Nausea (1938), The Roads to Freedom trilogy (1945–49), and plays like No Exit (1947), Flies (1947), and Dirty Hands (1948).

Sartre viewed consciousness and ego as interconnected but separate entities.
Consciousness is the awareness of oneself and the external world. It is a dynamic process constantly engaging with reality.
The ego, according to Sartre, is a product of conscious acts and is not a pre-existing entity.
The ego is a construct within consciousness, not the source or foundation of consciousness.
Pre-reflexive consciousness focuses on external objects.
Reflexive consciousness focuses on the self.
Sartre disagreed with those philosophers that stated the ego is the basis for all conscious acts.

Sartre's phenomenology is a method to understand consciousness, and it's not a critical study but rather a scientific exploration.
Consciousness is intentional, meaning it's always directed toward something.
Consciousness transcends itself; it's not confined to the present moment.
Key figures in Sartre's thought included Kant and Husserl.

Sartre argued the ego is a construct, not an inherent part of consciousness.
The ego emerges from how we interact with and define ourselves in society.
Our roles in society shape our sense of self.
The ego is a product of our continuous engagement with the world, shaped by our actions and experiences.

Sartre believed consciousness and ego were interconnected, with the ego constructed from conscious acts.
Consciousness is intentional and transcends itself.
Sartre's view of the ego differed from other philosophers, who viewed it as the basis of consciousness.