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The Transcendental ego (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a kind of substance whose contents may change without itself changing.

The Transcendental ego (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not a human being within the world, but the 'I' which places the world in question, and regards it in this way or that.

The Transcendental ego (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not some speck located in the brain, rather it is the person insofar as he is a player in the game of life. When, for example, one dies young, what is lost is not just a biological life. But it is the termination of a human life full of deliberations, choices, and human exchanges that that she would have carried out had she lived. What vanished was the way the world would have seemed to those eyes.

The Transcendental ego (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the world in its head but this head is no longer properly in the world.

The Transcendental ego (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the idea that though I am indebted to others for quite a bit, perhaps for almost everything, they are first of all, others for me, others who get from me whatever meaning and validity they have for me. And only because I possess their meaning and validity from out of myself can they be of help to me as fellow subjects.

The Transcendental ego (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the kind of existence that underlies the unsettling thought that if someone else were born in your place, no one would miss you because you never 'were' in the first place.