Every human act expresses the whole person, not a fragment
Evidence
The principle of this psychoanalysis is that man is a totality and not a collection. Consequently he expresses himself as a whole in even his most insignificant and his most superficial behavior. In other words there is not a taste, a mannerism, or an human act which is not revealing. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1334
Categorization
- DEFINE: The totalizing premise that grounds existential psychoanalysis as distinct from Freudian fragmentation.
- XREF: connects to: Having, doing, and being are the three cardinal categories subsuming all human conduct. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1061; Every act expresses the totality of the self rather than prior causes; Every sentence is a free act of self-choice, not an assembly of words. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1217 (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- Each empirical tendency expresses the whole person, not merely a part
#corroborates(0.95) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1326 - Human beings are processes of their own actions, not fixed essences
#expands(0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1256 - Human existence means transcendence and constant action, not passive repose
#expands(0.75) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 516 - Every human act makes the absolute through free choice
#expands(0.70) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism Is a Humanism, 24