Consciousness introduces differentiation, meaning, and plurality into undifferentiated Being

Evidence

For without consciousness, Being does not exist either as a totality (in the sense of “the world,” “the universe”) or with differentiated parts. It is a fullness of existence, a plenitude which can not possibly isolate one part so as to contrast it with another, or posit a whole over against its parts, or conceive a “nothing” in opposition to which it is “everything.” It is simply undifferentiated, meaningless massivity. Without consciousness there would not be a world, mountains, rivers, tables, chairs, etc.; there would be only Being. In this sense there is no thing without consciousness, but there is not nothing. Consciousness causes there to be things because it is itself nothing. Only through consciousness is there differentiation, meaning, and plurality for Being. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 40

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core ontological claim: the in-itself is undifferentiated massivity; the for-itself (as nothing) generates worldhood.
• XREF: Directly foundational for Beauvoir’s ethic of freedom; connects to Heidegger’s Being and nothingness. — connects to: Consciousness transcends toward the meaning of being, not being itself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 154; Consciousness is a temporary fold in being, not separate from it — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 739; Transcendental imagination holds being and non-being in co-implication as relative non-being — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 897 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Consciousness transcends toward the meaning of being, not being itself #expands (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 154
• Consciousness is a temporary fold in being, not separate from it #qualifies (0.72) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 739
• Transcendental imagination holds being and non-being in co-implication as relative non-being #corroborates (0.72) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 897
• Individual subjectivity emerges through the soul’s progressive self-differentiation from universal nature #exemplifies (0.72) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 318