Psychic causality cannot be mechanical or constant-succession, only magic action at a distance

Evidence

But psychic processes imply also the action from a distance of prior forms on posterior forms. We cannot conceive of this action at a distance in the mode of simple causality found, for example, in classical mechanics, which supposes the totally inert existence of a moving body enclosed in the instant. Neither can we allow the mode of physical causality conceived in the manner of John Stuart Mill, which is defined by the constant and unconditioned succession of two states where the being of each one is exclusive of the other. Inasmuch as the psychic is the objectivation of the for-itself, it possesses a degraded spontaneity which is grasped as the internal, given quality of the form of the psychic and which is inseparable from its cohesive force. This spontaneity can not therefore be given strictly as produced by the prior form. But on the other hand, neither can the spontaneity determine itself in existence since it is apprehended only as one determination among others of a given existent. It follows that the prior form has to effect from a distance the birth of a form of the same nature which is organized spontaneously as a form of flow. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 544

Categorization

• XREF: The rejection of mechanical and Mill-style causality anticipates later critiques of deterministic psychology; grounds Beauvoir’s ethic of situated freedom. — connects to: A nihilating being cannot be the cause of further phenomena; Psychic states act on each other magically and resist intellectualistic causal explanation; A will cannot act on a fully determined psychic process (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Psychic states act on each other magically and resist intellectualistic causal explanation #expands (0.90)
• A will cannot act on a fully determined psychic process #corroborates (0.85)
• Causality cannot serve as a bridge between two radically separated experiences #corroborates (0.75)
• Mechanical causality cannot account for qualitative change or historical novelty. #corroborates (0.75)