Volume 2, 1983
Sektions-Vorträge I - Résumés des sections I - Section Papers I
Ivan Soll
Pages 1210-1216
The Unconscious and the Pre-reflective Cogito
In this essay I critically examine Jean-Paul Sartre's theory, that all consciousness not only must have an object (i.e., must be conscious of something) but also must always be self-aware, that a self-conscious "pre-reflective cogito" accompanies all consciousness. I attempt to show (1) how this doctrine is meant to support Sarte's general rejection of the possibility of unconscious mental processes and (2) that Sartre's arguments for the presence of such a self-conscious "pre-reflective cogito" in all consciousnesses are unsound.