S/P/118. Sartre and Mental Imagery: The Phenomenon of 'Quasi-Observation'

This paper deals with Sartre's analysis of the imagination. It particularly deals with the nature of mental imagery and the phenomenon Sartre called 'quasi-observation'. Quasi-observation refers to the fact that mental imagery entertained in the imaginative faculty appears to share some properties with basic perception. Sartre delineates the differences between that which is perceived and that which is imagined. This paper offers a critical analysis of Sartre's account, particularly two central claims. First that one is always certain of the object of one's imagination. Second, that one can never be surprised by that which one imagines.