Superiority is only earned by risking oneself, never given

Evidence

There is a claim to sovereignty in every consciousness: but it can only be confirmed by risking itself; no superiority is ever given since man is nothing when reduced to his subjectivity; hierarchies can only be established among men’s acts and works; merit must be ceaselessly won: Montherlant knows it himself. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 485

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core existentialist point: sovereignty and hierarchy require risk-taking, transcending subjectivity through acts.
• XREF: Connects directly to Beauvoir’s larger immanence/transcendence framework and to Sartre’s being-for-itself. — connects to: Possession is enjoyed only through use, never through contemplation. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1373; Individual stubbornness is only admirable in relation to a hardened collectivity; Trust cannot be demanded but only offered through a risky advance — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 197

Broader Connections

• Trust cannot be demanded but only offered through a risky advance #corroborates (0.78) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 197