second year course outlines 2012-2013 - School of Social Sciences ...

Tower itself. Sartre also offers a subtle description of the way in which imagining (and the
object as
imagined) differs from perceiving (and the object as perceived), on the one hand, and
thinking (and
the object as thought), on the other.
One might challenge Sartre’s view by arguing that he has underestimated the resources of
the
‘mental image’ theory, or by arguing that the objects of imagination are not merely objects
but
experiences of objects.
The Reading
This reading is from one of Sartre’s early phenomenological studies and contains little of his
existentialist concerns. It is comparatively clear and requires little by way of introduction. It
includes
his rejection of the ‘illusion of immanence’ and his classic discussion of ‘quasi-observation’.
One
potentially confusing feature of Sartre’s discussion is that, although he rejects internal,
mental
images, he continues to speak of ‘the image’. He is, of course, reinterpreting this term. He
uses
‘An image of X’ to mean what we might less confusingly refer to as ‘the act of imagining an
X’.
Questions to Consider:
1. In §I Sartre claims that, in reflection, when I am imagining it is cannot be doubted that I am
doing just that. Much of the ensuing discussion is intended to draw out the ‘marks’ of the
imagination that could explain such knowledge. Do you think that Sartre is right about this?
Do
you think that the characteristics of the image that he describes really could explain such an
impossibility of doubt?
2. Sartre’s dismissal of the ‘illusion of immanence’ in §II, seems almost cursory. Do you think
that
he is fair to the position? How might the defender of internal, mental images respond to
Sartre’s claims?
3. In §III Sartre speaks of the ‘essential poverty’ of the image, and he links this to the idea
that we
learn nothing from the image. What do you think he has in mind here? Do you agree with
Sartre that we can learn nothing from our images?
4. In describing the ways in which imagining is similar to both perceiving and thinking, Sartre
describes it as a sort of ‘quasi-observation’. What features of the imagination does he mean
to
convey by this term? Do you think that his description is accurate?
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Lecture 11 (Week 12): Self-Consciousness – reflection & the self (Sartre)
Required Reading:
Sartre, J-P. 1936-7. The Transcendence of the Ego. In Moran, D. & Mooney, T. The
Phenomenology Reader. London: Routledge, 2002. [S]
Recommended Reading:
Morris, P. S. 1985. Sartre on the Transcendence of the Ego. Philosophy and
Phenomenological Research 46 (1995) [O]
Further Reading:
*Gardner, S. 2009. Sartre’s Being and Nothingness. London: Continuum, 2009, Ch.2 [S]
Gennaro, R. 2002. Jean-Paul Sartre and the HOT theory of consciousness. Canadian
Journal
of Philosophy 32. [O]
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