Internal negation belongs exclusively to the for-itself, never to being-in-itself

Evidence

By an internal negation we understand such a relation between two beings that the one which is denied to the other qualifies the other at the heart of its essence—by absence. The negation becomes then a bond of essential being since at least one of the beings on which it depends is such that it points toward the other, that it carries the other in its heart as an absence. Nevertheless it is clear that this type of negation can not be applied to being-in-itself. By nature it belongs to the for-itself. Only the for-itself can be determined in its being by a being which it is not. And if the internal negation can appear in the world—as when we say of a pearl that it is false, of a fruit that it is not ripe, of an egg that it is not fresh, etc.—it is by the for-itself that it comes into the world—like negation in general. Knowing belongs to the for-itself alone, for the reason that only the for-itself can appear to itself as not being what it knows. And as here appearance and being are one—since the for-itself has to be its appearance—we must conclude that the for-itself includes within its being the being of the object which it is not inasmuch as the for-itself puts its own being into question as not being the being of the object. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 574

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the core ontological division: internal negation is the defining feature of the for-itself, which carries what it is not within it as absence.
• XREF: This is the systematic backdrop Beauvoir assumes: to be a subject is to be determined by what one is not, which grounds her account of situated freedom. — connects to: Every question admits in principle the possibility of negation; External negation leaves beings untouched while internal negation constitutes them.; The For-itself’s being consists in internal negation rather than self-coincidence — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 445 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• The For-itself adds nothing to being except its own negation #expands (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 652
• External negations leave beings untouched while internal negations constitute the self #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 573
• The for-itself constitutes itself through an original negation of the thing #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 571
• Internal negation binds the for-itself to the in-itself it denies #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 576