Freedom is identical with the for-itself’s nothingness expressed as temporality, self-presence, and transcendence

Evidence

We have shown that freedom is actually one with the being of the For-itself; human reality is free to the exact extent that it has to be its own nothingness. It has to be this nothingness, as we have seen, in multiple dimensions: first, by temporalizing itself—i.e., by being always at a distance from itself, which means that it can never let itself be determined by its past to perform this or that particular act; second, by rising up as consciousness of something and (of) itself—i.e., by being presence to itself and not simply self, which implies that nothing exists in consciousness which is not consciousness of existing and that consequently nothing external to consciousness can motivate it; and finally, by being transcendence—i.e., not something which would first be in order subsequently to put itself into relation with this or that end, but on the contrary, a being which is originally a project—i.e., which is defined by its end. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1099

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The three-dimensional derivation of freedom from nothingness — temporality, self-presence, transcendence — is the structural core of the entire system, dense enough to revisit.
• DEFINE: Precisely defines the sense in which freedom is one with nothingness across three registers.
• XREF: The causal chain freedom→nothingness→transcendence is exactly the backdrop Beauvoir’s Ethics of Ambiguity builds on. — connects to: Anguish before freedom and anguish before nothingness describe the same phenomenon.; Empirical freedom is a secondary nihilation that presupposes an original nothingness — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 262; Life and action are identical in nature as transcended transcendence (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Freedom is synonymous with the for-itself’s lack of being #corroborates (0.95) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1328
• Freedom is the for-itself’s permanent ability to nihilate its own being #corroborates (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1075
• Temporality is the necessary horizon for the for-itself’s transcendence #expands (0.90)
• Freedom can objectify its own past, rupturing temporal continuity with the instant #expands (0.85)
• Freedom is the human capacity to put beings out of circuit behind a nothingness #corroborates (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 225
• Freedom precedes essence and is indistinguishable from being human #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 226