Physical distance does not modify the fundamental mutual presence of two consciousnesses

Evidence

Whether the distance is small or great, between Pierre-as-object and Thérèse-as-subject, between Thérèse-as-object and Pierre-as-subject there is the infinite density of a world. Between Pierre-as-subject and Thérèse-as-object, and again between Therese-as-subject and Pierre-as-object there is no distance at all. Thus the empirical concepts of absence and of presence are two specifictions of a fundamental presence of Pierre to Thérèse and of Thérèse to Pierre. They are only different ways of expressing the presence and have meaning only through it. At London, in the East Indies, in America, on a desert island, Pierre is present to Thérèse who remains in Paris; he will cease to be present to her only at his death. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 765

Categorization

• DEFINE: The subject-object asymmetry: spatial distance exists only within the for-itself’s world, so between two for-themselves there is no distance at all—only between an object and a subject.
• XREF: connects to: Co-presence does not require awareness of the other’s presence; Observation quality, not physical distance, determines whether an object feels near or far — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 817; Shared physical co-presence enables the cognitive harmonizations that build subjectivity — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 72

Broader Connections

• Co-presence does not require awareness of the other’s presence #expands (0.85)