An existent is nothing but the totality of its appearances

Evidence

The appearances which manifest the existent are neither interior nor exterior; they are all equal, they all refer to other appearances, and none of them is privileged. Force, for example, is not a metaphysical conatus of an unknown kind which hides behind its effects (accelerations, deviations, etc.); it is the totality of these effects. Similarly an electric current does not have a secret reverse side; it is nothing but the totality of the physical-chemical actions which manifest it (electrolysis, the incandescence of a carbon filament, the displacement of the needle of a galvanometer, etc.). No one of these actions alone is sufficient to reveal it. But no action indicates anything which is behind itself; it indicates only itself and the total series. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 113

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the phenomenon/monism of appearance: the existent equals the total series of its appearances, with no hidden interior.
• XREF: Connects directly to the phenomenological reduction backdrop for Beauvoir’s reading — this is the systematic foundation she builds on. — connects to: Appearance is full positivity, exactly equal to the being of the existent — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 114; The appearance has its own being and refers to nothing behind it — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 119; Totality of being arises only through the detotalized for-itself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 585 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The appearance has its own being and refers to nothing behind it #expands (0.95) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 119
• Totality of being arises only through the detotalized for-itself #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 585