Spontaneity can only produce itself, never act on externals

Evidence

The project of the For-itself toward the future which it is is a project toward the In-itself. In this sense the For-itself has to be its future because it can be the foundation of what it is only before itself and beyond being. It is the very nature of the For-itself that it must be “an always future hollow.” For this reason it will never have become, in the Present, what it had to be, in the Future. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 453 (#expands, via linked claim)

But the other negation is the reason for the appearance of the new one; for if there is an Other who puts me out of play by positing my transcendence as purely contemplated, this is because I wrench myself away from the Other by assuming my limit. The consciousness (of) this wrenching away of the consciousness of (being) the same in relation to the Other is the consciousness (of) my free spontaneity. By this very wrenching away which puts the Other in possession of my limit, I am already putting the Other out of play. Therefore in so far as I am conscious (of) myself as of one of my free possibilities and in so far as I project myself toward myself in order to realize this selfness, to that extent I am responsible for the existence of the Other. It is I who by the very affirmation of my free spontaneity cause there to be an Other and not simply an infinite reference of consciousness to itself. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 781 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The for-itself’s free spontaneity makes the Other’s existence possible — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 781; The For-itself can only found itself by projecting toward a future it never reaches — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 453

Broader Connections

• The for-itself’s free spontaneity makes the Other’s existence possible #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 781
• The For-itself can only found itself by projecting toward a future it never reaches #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 453