An act is a transcendent psychic synthesis the for-itself must live

Evidence

By acts we must understand the whole synthetic activity of the person; that is, every disposition of means as related to ends, not as the for-itself is its own possibilities but as the act represents a transcendent psychic synthesis which the for-itself must live. For example, the boxer’s training is an act because it transcends and supports the For-itself, which moreover realizes itself in and through this training. The same goes for the research of the scientist, for the work of the artist, for the election campaign of the politician. In all these cases the act as a psychic being represents a transcendent existence and the objective aspect of the relation of the For-itself with the world. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 535

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘act’ in Sartre’s psychic taxonomy, distinguishing it from the for-itself’s own possibilities.
• XREF: The act as something the for-itself ‘must live’ rather than is, foreshadows the transcendence/facticity structure central to bad faith that Beauvoir builds on. — connects to: An act must be self-present as operative intention to unify consciousness; Every act expresses the totality of the self rather than prior causes; The Ego is a transcendent unity of states, qualities, and acts (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Every act expresses the totality of the self rather than prior causes #expands (0.90)
• The Ego is a transcendent unity of states, qualities, and acts #expands (0.85)