Others Unconscious

Deconstructing the Translucidity of the Sartrian Consciousness

Abstract

This article questions the concept of transparency of consciousness in Sartre, while showing other possibilities of thinking “unconscious” modes, other than the Freudian, in his philosophy. By rejecting the psychoanalytical unconscious, at the same time as proposing a philosophy of transparent consciousness, Sartre is often interpreted as the one that assumes and potentializes the problems raised by the heritage of the Cartesian subject in the 20th century. Thus it is necessary, in the first place, to point out what these problems are and then to question the meaning of transparent consciousness in Sartre in order to verify whether it in fact entails the most classic consequences of such a characteristic. In this movement, it happens that the consciousness itself reveals deconstructive elements due to its “spectral” character, an implicit but present trait in Sartre's text. Moreover, the investigation still makes it possible to glimpse other unconscious forms - in this case aspects that indicate ignorance and opacity in self relationship -, finally calling into question such inheritance and its consequences.