‘Being is what it is’ names only the in-itself, not all being.

Evidence

Consciousness is the revealed-revelation of existents, and existents appear before consciousness on the foundation of their being. Nevertheless the primary characteristic of the being of an existent is never to reveal itself completely to consciousness. An existent can not be stripped of its being; being is the ever present foundation of the existent; it is everywhere in it and nowhere. There is no being which is not the being of a certain mode of being, none which can not be apprehended through the mode of being which manifests being and veils it at the same time. Consciousness can always pass beyond the existent, not toward its being, but toward the meaning of this being. That is why we call it ontic-ontological, since a fundamental characteristic of its transcendence is to transcend the ontic toward the ontological. The meaning of the being of the existent in so far as it reveals itself to consciousness is the phenomenon of being. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 154 (#expands, via linked claim)

The permanent possibility of non-being, outside us and within, conditions our questions about being. Furthermore it is non-being which is going to limit the reply. What being will be must of necessity arise on the basis of what it is not. Whatever being is, it will allow this formulation: “Being is that and outside of that, nothing.” — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 183 (#expands, via linked claim)

Furthermore we ought not to take this as our point of departure but rather our primary relation to the in-itself: our being-in-the-world. We know that there is not a for-itself on the one hand and a world on the other as two closed entities for which we must subsequently seek some explanation as to how they communicate. The for-itself is a relation to the world. The for-itself, by denying that it is being, makes there be a world, and by surpassing this negation toward its own possibilities it reveals the “thises” as instrumental-things. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 831 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Being is necessarily defined against what it is not — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 183; Consciousness transcends toward the meaning of being, not being itself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 154; The for-itself is a relation to the world, not a separate entity — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 831 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Consciousness transcends toward the meaning of being, not being itself #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 154
• Being is necessarily defined against what it is not #expands (0.82) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 183
• The for-itself is a relation to the world, not a separate entity #qualifies (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 831