SARTRE’S FOUNDING OF PHENOMENOLOGICAL ONTOLOGY

Abstract

The main attempt of this paper was to show Sartre’s constitution of the new theoryof being, consciousness and phenomena – of the phenomenological ontology. In Sartre’s keyworks on this subject, „Being and Nothingness“ and “The Transcendence of Ego“, phenomenologicalontology is founded through criticism of earlier phenomenologists and ontologists:Husserl and Heidegger (Sartre criticised Husserl’s notion of a transcendental ego, as well asHeidegger’s raising questions that we cannot give answer to). However, Sartre’s foundation ofphenomenological ontology goes even further, positioning itself also on the criticism of idealists,rationalists, empiricists and psychologists. In Sartre’s opinion, phenomenology has removed theillusion of „worlds behind the scene“, that took place in dualism of Kant’s ideas of phenomenaand noumena. Consciousness is always consciousness of something or someone, but alwaysconsciousness of an object. This non-positional quality of consciousness is what makes ontologywhat it is. And the fact that „third parties“ are the tangible foundation of the intangible self, iswhat makes this ontology a phenomenological ontology!