Desire is a distinctive mode of self-choice, not a mere directed longing

Evidence

Desire therefore does not come to consciousness as heat comes to the piece of iron which I hold near the flame. Consciousness chooses itself as desire. For this, of course, there must be a motive; I do not desire just anything at any time. But as we showed in Part One of this book, the motive is raised in terms of the past, and consciousness by turning back upon it, confers on the motive its weight and its value. There is therefore no difference between the choice of the motive of the desire and the meaning of the upsurge—in the three ekstatic dimensions of duration—of a consciousness which makes itself desiring. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 979 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

As will-to-be, human beings deny their freedom in order to make of themselves objects. Th us, this attitude is closely related to the naïve realistic attitude that says that being and truth are always pre-given; this implies that we are obliged to turn ourselves into purely objective beings. Th e subjectivity that inserts itself inside a scheme of pure objective truth creates a world of men-objects. To this philosophy, the will-to-be is nothing more than the will-to-be-as-onealready-is. Does not a will that satisfi es itself with taking upon itself being as it is prove its own uselessness? It certainly does not add anything to being, which already acts in a world full of richness. Rather, by causing subjectivity’s adherence to this belief, it creates the conditions for subjectivity’s self-negation, for its selfdevalorization (here, we must be careful to emphasize that self-negation is an activity, and not the result of passivity: self-negation is always the negation of the self by the self ). — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 435 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Desire must be its own lack, not a merely physiological state — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 355; Desire is a chosen mode of consciousness, not a passive impingement — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 979; Willed and spontaneous feelings are identical because feelings are self-choices (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Desire is a chosen mode of consciousness, not a passive impingement #corroborates (1.00) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 979
• Willed and spontaneous feelings are identical because feelings are self-choices #corroborates (0.72)
• Self-negation is an active choice, not a passive outcome #expands (0.70) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 435