Reflection is defined as the failed effort of the for-itself to found itself

Evidence

This effort to be to itself its own foundation, to recover and to dominate within itself its own flight, finally to be that flight instead of temporalizing it as the flight which is fled—this effort inevitably results in failure; and it is precisely this failure which is reflection. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 513

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines reflection negatively: it is constituted by the failure of the for-itself to become its own foundation.
• XREF: Sets up the backdrop against which Beauvoir’s ethics of ambiguity operates — the for-itself’s doomed project of self-foundation. — connects to: Reflection is the for-itself grounding itself as a for-itself; Reflection is an intermediate stage of nihilation between self-existence and existence-for-others — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 513; Reflection is a second attempt by the for-itself to found itself (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Reflection aims impossibly to unify the for-itself with itself into a totality #expands (0.92)
• Reflection is consciousness attempting to become its own object #expands (0.88)
• Reflection is structurally possible because the for-itself splits into reflecting and reflected #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 513