The for-itself is only the emptiness where the in-itself detaches

Evidence

The difficulty encountered by materialism in deriving knowledge from the object stems from the fact that materialism wants to produce a substance in terms of another substance. But this difficulty can not hinder us, for we affirm that there is nothing outside the in-itself except a reflection (reflet) of that nothing which is itself polarized and defined by the in-itself inasmuch as it is precisely the nothingness of this in-itself, the individualized nothing which is nothing only because it is not the in-itself. Thus in this ekstatic relation which is constitutive of the internal negation and of knowledge, it is the in-itself “in person” which is the concrete pole in its plenitude, and the for-itself is nothing other than the emptiness in which the in-itself is detached. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 576

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise formulation of the ekstatic relation: for-itself is a polarized nothingness defined against the plenitude of the in-itself.
• DEEPTHINKING: The radical move that knowledge is the in-itself detaching through emptiness, not a substance producing another substance — worth sitting with.
• XREF: connects to: The For-itself has only marginal, borrowed being derived from what it nihilates. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 48; Being-in-itself is so full of itself it cannot reflect or affirm. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 162; The for-itself is the in-itself’s failed self-founding that nihilates it — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 346 (+18 more)

Broader Connections

• The for-itself is defined by self-withdrawal rather than self-identity #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1145
• The For-itself’s being consists in internal negation rather than self-coincidence #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 445
• Being-in-itself can found its nothingness but never its being #expands (0.82) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 346
• The for-itself constitutes itself through an original negation of the thing #expands (0.78) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 571