The for-itself’s free spontaneity makes the Other’s existence possible

Evidence

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

Categorization

• DEFINE: Ties free spontaneity causally to the constitution of otherness, a key ontological mechanism for the whole being-for-others problematic.
• XREF: The claim that I am responsible for the Other’s existence is the systematic groundwork for Beauvoir’s ethics of reciprocity and mutual recognition. — connects to: The Other’s existence is a contingent but unprovable necessity.; A genuinely created being must tear itself free and assume its own being; Shame claims the Other’s freedom as one’s own, affirming a unity of being. (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Consciousness freely chooses itself as not being the Other. #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 775
• The Other’s look turns the free for-itself into a fixed thing #complicates (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1045
• Freedom exists only by being conquered from original spontaneous existence #qualifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 22