Human desire fundamentally aims at being one’s own foundation, a state called God.

Evidence

The for-itself arises as the nihilation of the in-itself and this nihilation is defined as the project toward the in-itself. Between the nihilated in-itself and the projected in-itself the for-itself is nothingness. Thus the end and the goal of the nihilation which I am is the in-itself. Thus human reality is the desire of being-in-itself. … The being which forms the object of the desire of the for-itself is then an in-itself which would be to itself its own foundation; that is, which would be to its facticity in the same relation as the for-itself is to its motivations. … The fundamental value which presides over this project is exactly the in-itself-for-itself; that is, the ideal of a consciousness which would be the foundation of its own being-in-itself by the pure consciousness which it would have of itself. It is this ideal which can be called God. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1330

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the foundational project of human reality in the full Sartrean chain: nihilation projects the in-itself-for-itself, which is by definition the ideal called God.
• XREF: This is the systematic backdrop Beauvoir’s existentialist ethics both inherits and interrogates — her reworking of the desire-to-be-God as mutual recognition in The Ethics of Ambiguity. — connects to: Every human being fundamentally desires to be God, a desire that is inherently self-contradictory. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 57; Human reality is the pure effort to become God, desire being its expression — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1348; The for-itself desires to be its own foundation without annihilating its consciousness. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 361 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Human reality is the pure effort to become God, desire being its expression #corroborates (1.00) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1348
• All human projects aim at becoming God through self-causation #corroborates (0.97) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1445
• Every act emanates from a fundamental choice of being God #corroborates (0.95) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1386
• The for-itself desires to be its own foundation without annihilating its consciousness. #expands (0.92) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 361
• In possession the for-itself seeks to become its own foundation as in-itself #expands (0.90)
• Each concrete desire expresses the whole of human reality. #expands (0.82) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1347