Bad Faith (existentialism) - Two Modes of Consciousness

Two Modes of Consciousness

Sartre tells us that the consciousness with which we generally consider our surroundings is different from our reflecting on this consciousness, i.e., the consciousness of 'ourselves being conscious of these surroundings'. The first kind of consciousness, before we think about, or reflect on, our previous consciousness, is called pre-reflective. Reflecting on the pre-reflective consciousness is called reflective consciousness. But this cannot be called unconsciousness, as Freud used the term. Sartre gives the example of running after a bus: one does not become conscious of 'one's running after the bus' until one has ceased to run after it, because until then one's consciousness is focused on the bus itself, and not one's chasing it.

In this sense consciousness always entails being self-aware (being for-itself). Since for Sartre consciousness also entails a consciousness of our separation from the world, and hence freedom, we are also always aware of this. But we can manipulate these two levels of consciousness, so that our reflective consciousness interprets the factual limits of our objective situation as insurmountable, whilst our pre-reflective consciousness remains aware of alternatives.:*