The Transcendence of the Ego

An Existentialist Theory of Consciousness

Jean-Paul Sartre

Hill and Wang

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First published in France in 1937, this important essay marked a turning point in Sartre’s philosophical development. Before writing it, he had been closely allied with phenomenologists such as Husserl and Heidegger. Here, however, Sartre attacked Husserl’s notion of a transcendental ego. The break with Husserl, in turn, facilitated Sartre’s transition from phenomenology to the existentialist doctrines of his masterwork, Being and Nothingness, which was completed a few years later while the author was a prisoner of war.

This student-friendly edition of The Transcendence of the Ego also includes an introduction and notes/annotations by the translators.

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Xiaomin  rated it  
Sep 7, 2011
Sartre's take on the consciousness as purely spontaneous and without any trace of I or I-concept is suspiciously similar to some of the Buddhist rendering of consciousness: the ego as the transcendent unity of all psychic states and actions "constructed" by the reflecting consciousness and ...more
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Devrim  rated it  
Apr 30, 2011
From a phenomenological point of view this is by far, the most original work of Sartre. ...more
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Plaidlad  rated it  
Jun 23, 2010
Existentialist heavy hitter.
JP is very technical, and makes some people drink lots of black coffee and smoke unfiltered cigarettes.

I find his work uplifting.

...more
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Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre—novelist, essayist, playwright, and philosopher—was France's leading existentialist. Among his most famous works are the novel Nausea, the play No Exit, and the philosophical treatise Being and Nothingness.

Jean-Paul Sartre

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The Transcendence of the Ego
An Existentialist Theory of Consciousness
Jean-Paul Sartre

Trade Paperback

Trade Paperback
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Hill and Wang
January 1991
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9780809015450
ISBN10: 0809015455
5 5/16 x 8 inches, 119 pages
$13.00
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