Consciousness is defined as a lack or desire for Being

Evidence

Being-for-itself (être-pour-soi). The nihilation of Being-in-itself; consciousness conceived as a lack of Being, a desire for Being, a relation to Being. By bringing Nothingness into the world the For-itself can stand out from Being and judge other beings by knowing what it is not. Each For-itself is the nihilation of a particular being. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1460

Categorization

• XREF: Lack and desire structure the ontology that Beauvoir imports wholesale; also the seed of the ‘desire to become God’ motif that reappears in the Absurd entry and in existentialist ethics. — connects to: Consciousness is a being that is conscious of the nothingness of its own being. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 277; Reflective consciousness discloses values as the meaning of what is lacked; The possible is a lack constitutive of consciousness itself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 385 (+6 more)
• DEFINE: The core negative ontology of the For-itself.

Broader Connections

• Nothingness is a supported recoil from Being that enables consciousness to exist #expands (0.85)
• Consciousness transcends toward the meaning of being, not being itself #qualifies (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 154
• Absence is not given by objects but posited by a consciousness that negates #expands (0.80)
• Consciousness is a temporary fold in being, not separate from it #contradicts (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 739
• Consciousness defines itself by internal negation of its own objects #expands (0.75)