Being conscious of one’s motives already places them outside the self
Evidence
To say that the for-itself has to be what it is, to say that it is what it is not while not being what it is, to say that in it existence precedes and conditions essence or inversely according to Hegel, that for it “Wesen ist was gewesen ist”—all this is to say one and the same thing: to be aware that man is free. Indeed by the sole fact that I am conscious of the causes which inspire my action, these causes are already transcendent objects for my consciousness; they are outside. In vain shall I seek to catch hold of them; I escape them by my very existence. I am condemned to exist forever beyond my essence, beyond the causes and motives of my act. I am condemned to be free. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1075
Categorization
- DEFINE: The famous ‘condemned to be free’ formulation, showing how consciousness of motives transcendentizes them.
- XREF: connects to: Any attempt at sincere self-knowledge covertly turns oneself into a thing — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 306; Psychoanalytic self-knowledge requires treating oneself as an external object; Self-consciousness extends the cogito beyond the instant into one’s global project — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1117 (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- Self-awareness lifts the I above itself while it remains itself
#expands(0.88) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 814 - Self-knowledge of one’s limits requires a vantage point outside them
#expands(0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 787 - Being reflected upon gives consciousness a sense of having an outside
#expands(0.80)