Sartre’s freedom is not an attribute but the very existence of consciousness.

Evidence

Th is is how Sartre understands freedom (i.e., consciousness) or, perhaps better, makes it absolute, having understood, contrary to philosophical tradition, that the absolute must be integrated into being-for-itself. In other words, transcendence is absorbed into consciousness in Sartre’s philosophy; consciousness is always outside of itself, or perhaps better, is a being that exists outside of itself. Th is means that it is not lodged in the subject, but that it takes the place of the subject. … Freedom is therefore not an attribute of the human subject, a tool at his disposal (which he could decide to use or not use according to a voluntarist pattern); rather, it constitutes the very existence of consciousness. — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 410

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies Sartre’s idiosyncratic sense of freedom as constitutive existence rather than a voluntarist attribute — a key concept needing precise fixation.
• XREF: Connects to the existentialist concept of transcendence as it appears throughout the Continental tradition, and to Beauvoir’s parallel treatment. — connects to: Sartre argues existential freedom survives even imprisonment and death — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 509; Sartre divides being into free for-itself consciousness and inert in-itself matter — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 496; Sartrean freedom is primal and unmediated unlike Beauvoir’s dialectical consciousness — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 250 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Sartre divides being into free for-itself consciousness and inert in-itself matter #expands (0.90) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 496
• Sartrean freedom requires facticity, not its absence #qualifies (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 508
• Sartrean freedom is primal and unmediated unlike Beauvoir’s dialectical consciousness #expands (0.78) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 250