The For-itself is process rather than entity

Evidence

Our research has enabled us to answer the first of these questions: the For-itself and the In-itself are reunited by a synthetic connection which is nothing other than the For-itself itself. The For-itself, in fact, is nothing but the pure nihilation of the In-itself; it is like a hole of being at the heart of Being. … The for-itself has no reality save that of being the nihilation of being. Its sole qualification comes to it from the fact that it is the nihilation of an individual and particular In-itself and not of a being in general. The For-itself is not nothingness in general but a particular privation; it constitutes itself as the privation of this being. Therefore we have no business asking about the way in which the for-itself can be united with the in-itself since the for-itself is in no way an autonomous substance. As a nihilation it is made-to-be by the in-itself; as an internal negation it must by means of the in-itself make known to itself what it is not and consequently what it has to be. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1432 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Concerning the For-itself as such we should never say, “It is” in the sense that we say, for example, “It is nine o’clock;” that is, in the sense of the total equivalence of being with itself which posits and suppresses the self and which gives the external aspect of passivity. For the For-itself has the existence of an appearance coupled with a witness of a reflection which refers to a reflecting without there being any object of which the reflection would be the reflection. The For-itself does not have being because its being is always at a distance: its being is there in the reflecting, if you consider appearance, which is appearance or reflection only for the reflecting; it is there in the reflection if you consider the reflecting, which is no longer in itself anything more than a pure function of reflecting this reflection. Furthermore in itself the For-itself is not being, for it makes itself be explicitly for-itself as not being being. It is consciousness of —— as the internal negation of ——. The structure at the basis of intentionality and of selfness is the negation, which is the internal relation of the For-itself to the thing. The For-itself constitutes itself outside in terms of the thing as the negation of that thing; thus its first relation with being-in-itself is negation. It “is” in the mode of the For-itself; that is, as a separated existent inasmuch as it reveals itself as not being being. It doubly escapes being, by an internal disintegration and by express negation. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 445 (#expands, via linked claim)

Furthermore we ought not to take this as our point of departure but rather our primary relation to the in-itself: our being-in-the-world. We know that there is not a for-itself on the one hand and a world on the other as two closed entities for which we must subsequently seek some explanation as to how they communicate. The for-itself is a relation to the world. The for-itself, by denying that it is being, makes there be a world, and by surpassing this negation toward its own possibilities it reveals the “thises” as instrumental-things. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 831 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The For-itself is not a substance but the nihilation of a particular In-itself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1432; The for-itself is a relation to the world, not a separate entity — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 831; The For-itself’s being consists in internal negation rather than self-coincidence — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 445 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• The For-itself is not a substance but the nihilation of a particular In-itself #corroborates (0.95) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1432
• The For-itself’s being consists in internal negation rather than self-coincidence #expands (0.92) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 445
• The for-itself is a relation to the world, not a separate entity #expands (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 831
• The for-itself constitutes itself through an original negation of the thing #corroborates (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 571
• The for-itself depends on the in-itself through an internal relation #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1437