doubts about self-consciousness
'It might seem for a moment as if this pressing actuality
of experience implies a relation between subject and object,
so that an indescribable being called the ego or self was
given with and involved in any actual event. The analysis,
however is merely grammatical, and if pressed issues in
mythical notions'
'this pressing actuality of experience'
- or the simple fact of it - can imply a relation between
subject and object - can imply
this is just to say a subject /object distinction - can be
used to account for experience
as an explanation of it - if such is called for
and yes - you can characterize 'subject' further - and this
maybe just poetic - but that's not important
but the whole business is to step out from the experience -
and give it a logical characterization - hence - subject and
object - the experience is seen as the product of the relation
between the knower and the object of the knowing
some description - of experience - per se is demanded -
by what?
this is where the subject /object distinction suggests itself -
quite naturally
and it is clearly not the object - the world that demands -
requires - asks for description of itself
we come to the idea of subject - not just because -
it is quite naturally suggested - but - it is needed to
account for the question of experience
we see - experience - the world
what is this - what does this experiencing of the object?
surely it makes sense to speak of something - the world
itself (as object) - does not issue forth experience -
(short of consciousness the world is unknown -
that is its final status
the world is known - knows itself - however imperfectly -
given - only given
consciousness)
experience is a possibility - an actuality -
only given a subject -
so to come to this idea - the subject / object distinction
how does this occur?
it's the stepping out here that's crucial
I think - such a process is to begin with nothing -
the unknown - in this case experience - is without
definition - explanation
(this is an intellectual choice - to do this -
to regard x in such a way
does it matter how we make this move - what it is -
how to describe it?
not particularly I think - there's any number of ways
to do this - to describe what's going on here -
the fact of it - is what is important
I think it's consciousness reaching for understanding
whatever this means)
the thing is we can do this - suspend judgement -
ontological and epistemological and look for answers -
for questions - create pictures
pictures - that give a sense of fundamental co-ordinates
