Pure spontaneous consciousness can neither act upon nor be acted upon by things.

Evidence

For the same reasons it is impossible to assign to a consciousness a motivation other than itself. Otherwise it would be necessary to conceive that consciousness to the degree to which it is an effect, is not conscious (of) itself. It would be necessary in some manner that it should be without being conscious (of) being. We should fall into that too common illusion which makes consciousness semi-conscious or a passivity. But consciousness is consciousness through and through. It can be limited only by itself. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 137 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Consciousness cannot be caused by any motivation external to itself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 137; A nihilating being cannot be the cause of further phenomena; No consciousness, not even God’s, can view reality’s totality from outside. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 807

Broader Connections

• A nihilating being cannot be the cause of further phenomena #corroborates (0.85)
• Consciousness cannot be caused by any motivation external to itself #corroborates (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 137