Freedom precedes essence and is indistinguishable from being human

Evidence

It is not yet possible to deal with the problem of freedom in all its fullness. In fact the steps which we have completed up to now show clearly that freedom is not a faculty of the human soul to be envisaged and described in isolation. What we have been trying to define is the being of man in so far as he conditions the appearance of nothingness, and this being has appeared to us as freedom. Thus freedom as the requisite condition for the nihilation of nothingness is not a property which belongs among others to the essence of the human being. … Human freedom precedes essence in man and makes it possible; the essence of the human being is suspended in his freedom. What we call freedom is impossible to distinguish from the being of “human reality.” Man does not exist first in order to be free subsequently; there is no difference between the being of man and his being-free. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 226

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core ontological claim: freedom is not a property of essence but coextensive with human being itself — existence precedes essence.
• XREF: Direct systematic backdrop to Beauvoir’s Ethics of Ambiguity, where ambiguous freedom replaces essence-grounded ethics. — connects to: Freedom is the for-itself’s permanent ability to nihilate its own being — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1075; Freedom chooses its being but cannot choose not to be — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1146; Freedom is synonymous with the for-itself’s lack of being — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1328 (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• Freedom is the nihilation of a being it is, not something added later. #corroborates (0.95) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1159
• Freedom is the for-itself’s permanent ability to nihilate its own being #expands (0.92) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1075
• Freedom is synonymous with the for-itself’s lack of being #corroborates (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1328
• Freedom has no essence and therefore cannot be described like other things #corroborates (0.88) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1073
• Freedom chooses its being but cannot choose not to be #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1146
• Freedom means choosing oneself within one’s world, not choosing the world itself. #expands (0.80)
• Freedom has concrete content only when engaged in the world #expands (0.72)