Appearance is full positivity, exactly equal to the being of the existent

Evidence

But if we once get away from what Nietzsche called “the illusion of worlds-behind-the-scene,” and if we no longer believe in the being-behind-the-appearance, then the appearance becomes full positivity; its essence is an “appearing” which is no longer opposed to being but on the contrary is the measure of it. For the being of an existent is exactly what it appears. Thus we arrive at the idea of the phenomenon such as we can find, for example in the “phenomenology” of Husserl or of Heidegger—the phenomenon or the relative-absolute. Relative the phenomenon remains, for “to appear” supposes in essence somebody to whom to appear. But it does not have the double relativity of Kant’s Erscheinung. It does not point over its shoulder to a true being which would be, for it, absolute. What it is, it is absolutely, for it reveals itself as it is. The phenomenon can be studied and described as such, for it is absolutely indicative of itself. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 114

Categorization

• DEFINE: The crux: the phenomenon is the relative-absolute, revealing itself entirely — appearance is being’s measure, not something opposed to it.
• XREF: This distinction between Husserl/Heidegger’s relative-absolute versus Kant’s Erscheinung is exactly the backdrop Beauvoir’s freedom ethics presupposes. — connects to: Being-in-itself is full positivity, excluding all negation, becoming, and temporality. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 165; An existent is nothing but the totality of its appearances — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 113; Essence is the manifest law of appearances, itself an appearance — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 116 (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The collapse of appearance-as-negative into full positivity is the hinge that lets phenomenology claim phenomena are absolutely self-revealing rather than pointing at hidden being — a paradigm-shifting move in the anti-dualist tradition.

Broader Connections

• Being-in-itself is full positivity, excluding all negation, becoming, and temporality. #corroborates (0.95) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 165
• The appearance has its own being and refers to nothing behind it #corroborates (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 119
• An existent is nothing but the totality of its appearances #qualifies (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 113
• Essence is the manifest law of appearances, itself an appearance #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 116
• Qualities interpenetrate so fully they are one single being, not law-bound parts #qualifies (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 594