Human action requires witnessing by other free consciousnesses to retain meaning

Evidence

Secondly, in the absence of a world constituted of other free individuals, nearly all human action becomes disturbingly absurd. Th at is, there would be little reason for acting unless there are other consciousnesses in the world (or outside of it) who can observe us acting. Th e inherently performative dimension of action is indeed evident precisely in considering that action becomes vain at best, if not altogether futile, if performed for no audience. — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 620

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘performed for no audience’ framing could feed an essay on performance, recognition, and the constitutive role of spectatorship across philosophy, theater, and social media.
• XREF: Connects to the performative/audience theme in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Goffman) and to recognition theory in Hegel and Honneth. — connects to: Consciousness freely chooses itself as not being the Other. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 775; Consciousness never coincides with itself because it exists for a witness — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 329; Self-consciousness depends on being recognized by another consciousness (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Consciousness never coincides with itself because it exists for a witness #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 329
• Self-consciousness depends on being recognized by another consciousness #corroborates (0.85)
• Consciousness freely chooses itself as not being the Other. #complicates (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 775