Every human act makes the absolute through free choice
Evidence
One must observe equally the relativity of Cartesianism and the absolute character of the Cartesian commitment. In this sense you may say, if you like, that every one of us makes the absolute by breathing, by eating, by sleeping or by behaving in any fashion whatsoever. There is no difference between free being – being as self-committal, as existence choosing its essence – and absolute being. And there is no difference whatever between being as an absolute, temporarily localised that is, localised in history – and universally intelligible being. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism Is a Humanism, 24
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: The collapsing of absolute being into historical, localized being — every mundane act instantiates the absolute — is dense enough to sit with for days. Not just a claim but a whole metaphysical mini-system packed into a paragraph.
- DEFINE: Clarifies the technical existentialist equation: free being = absolute being, and the absolute being is simultaneously historically localized and universally intelligible.
- XREF: connects to: A fundamental choice is only real as a choice in the world — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1147; Every free situation inevitably has an alienated face freedom never chose — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1232; Every human act expresses the whole person, not a fragment — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1334 (+6 more)
Related
- Human universality is perpetually made by choice, not given in advance. (similarity 0.86)
- Every act emanates from a fundamental choice of being God (similarity 0.84)
- Humans lack any predefined nature and create themselves through choices (similarity 0.83)
- Every human act expresses the whole person, not a fragment (similarity 0.83)
- Free commitment is absolute even while cultural patterns are relative (similarity 0.83)
- Freedom precedes essence and is indistinguishable from being human (similarity 0.82)
- Existentialist ethics demand acting as if the fate of humanity rests on each choice (similarity 0.82)
- Freedom requires choosing one’s own essence, not merely one’s acts (similarity 0.82)
- Human beings create their own essence through action rather than inheriting a fixed nature (similarity 0.82)
- The human race is constituted by free individual choices, not vice versa (similarity 0.82)
- A fundamental choice is only real as a choice in the world (similarity 0.81)
- Freedom is the foundational condition of all action (similarity 0.81)
- Freedom chooses its being but cannot choose not to be (similarity 0.81)
- Absurdity means the choice grounds all reasons and reasons-for-being (similarity 0.80)
- Absolute freedom makes one’s every choice perpetually fragile and invertible (similarity 0.80)
Broader Connections
- Freedom is the foundational condition of all action
#corroborates(0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1069 - Human universality is perpetually made by choice, not given in advance.
#expands(0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism Is a Humanism, 23 - Every person fuses social inheritance with free individual autonomy
#expands(0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 520 - Willing one’s freedom and willing that being exist are one choice
#expands(0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 72