The past is value reversed, being fixed in-itself as pure gratuitous fact

Evidence

But precisely for this reason the past which resembles value is not value. In value the for-itself becomes itself by surpassing and by founding its being; there is a recovery of the in-itself by the self. As a result, the contingency of being gives way to necessity. The past on the contrary is at the start in-itself. The for-itself is sustained in being by the in-itself; its raison d’être is no longer being for-itself. It has become in-itself, and as a result it appears to us in its pure contingency. There is no reason for our past to be this or that; it appears in the totality of its series as the pure fact for which we must account qua fact, as the gratuitous. In short, it is value reversed—the for-itself recovered by the in-itself and fixed by it, penetrated and blinded by the full density of the in-itself, thickened by the in-itself to the point of no longer being able to exist as a reflection for the reflecting nor as the reflecting for the reflection, but simply as an in-itself indication of the dyad reflecting-reflection. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 436

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the crucial distinction between past and value — the past is the for-itself recuperated by the in-itself, stripped of its self-grounding.
• DEEPTHINKING: The past as ‘value reversed’ — the for-itself thickened by the in-itself into inert fact — is a dense, nuanced reworking of temporality that resists quick summary.
• XREF: Fundamental backdrop to Beauvoir’s account of how past commitments constrain and condition freedom. — connects to: Being past turns subjective states into thing-like objective facts; Past actions become irrevocable facts the for-itself cannot escape — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 495; The past is a for-itself that has hardened into an in-itself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 434 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• The past is a for-itself that has hardened into an in-itself #corroborates (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 434
• Being past turns subjective states into thing-like objective facts #expands (0.85)
• The past is an in-itself whose content can neither be changed nor added to #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 427
• Past actions become irrevocable facts the for-itself cannot escape #expands (0.82) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 495
• The past yields no imperative, being only indicative fact #expands (0.80)