The transcendence of the ego : a sketch for a phenomenological description (New ed.)

‘I should like to show here that the Ego is neither formally or materially in consciousness: it is outside, in the world.’ Jean-Paul Sartre The Transcendence of the Ego is one of Jean-Paul Sartre's earliest philosophical publications and essential for understanding the trajectory of his work as a whole.

When it first appeared in France in 1937 Sartre was still largely unknown, working as a school teacher in a provincial French town. Attacking prevailing philosophical theories head on, Sartre offers a brilliant and radical account of the self as a product of consciousness, situated in the world.

He introduces many of the themes central to his major work, Being and Nothingness: the nature of consciousness, the problem of self-knowledge, other minds, and anguish.

This translation includes a thorough and illuminating introduction by Sarah Richmond, placing Sartre's essay in its philosophical and historical context. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980). The foremost French thinker and writer of the early post-war years.

His books, which include Being and Nothingness, Nausea, The Age of Reason and No Exit have exerted enormous influence in philosophy, literature, politics and drama.