The sub-man’s fear is that the unforeseen will force self-awareness upon him.

Evidence

The sub-man experiences the desert of the world in his boredom. And the strange character of a universe with which he has created no bond also arouses fear in him. Weighted down by present events, he is bewildered before the darkness of the future which is haunted by frightful specters, war, sickness, revolution, fascism, bolshevism. The more indistinct these dangers are, the more fearful they become. The sub-man is not very clear about what he has to lose, since he has nothing, but this very uncertainty re-enforces his terror. Indeed, what he fears is that the shock of the unforeseen may remind him of the agonizing consciousness of himself. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 42

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• QUESTION: This suggests the sub-man’s boredom and terror both serve one function — preventing self-consciousness — which could be tested against how apathetic people actually react to disruption.

Related

• The sub-man refuses the risks and tensions of existing as a lack. (similarity 0.78)