The notion of the psychic in Sartre’s theory of the imaginary

The definition of psychology as a science and its object of study have been the focus of discussion throughout the development of this discipline. Although psychologists recognize the importance of this discussion and have contributed to this ongoing debate, they still believe they are far from reaching a general consensus. Thus, taking this situation into consideration, this study aims at presenting Sartre’s theory of the imaginary as an instrument for the understanding of the psychic - psychology’s object of study. Therefore, in order to attain this objective, this research analyzes Sartre’s L’Imaginaire and La Transcendance de L’Ego, for the study of the imagination and its correlate, the imaginary, presupposes the study of consciousness and its correlate, the psychic. We have concluded that Sartre has offered important contributions for an understanding of the psychic because he reformulated the notion of image by means of the reconstitution of consciousness and the psychic and because he stated that the imagination is a type of autonomous consciousness which represents, in essence, the notion of liberty.

Sartre; Imagination; Imaginary; Consciousness; Psychic