Sartre's Being and Nothingness and the Awareness of Consciousness

The central philosophical problem Sartre addresses in Being and Nothingness is that of consciousness. He differentiates consciousness (being-for-itself) from unconsciousness (being-in-itself) by the simple awareness of consciousness. Humans are conscious because they know that they are conscious. Physical objects are not aware that they are conscious because they are not conscious and because of this, they are not conscious. Sartre is expressing that consciousness simply is. Consciousness is consciousness. It exists because it does.

Conscious objects exist because they exist, while unconscious objects exist to be what they are. Because man is conscious, he must create his own meaning in the world through his actions and choices. Unlike a book, which was created to be a book and will always be a book, humans were not created with any innate purpose or value and thus must create it. The creation of this purpose is only through what defines that person, such as choices and careers. But this definition of individuals is rooted in the present and will be fluid throughout the person's lifetime. For example, a scientist now, was once a student and will one day be a retiree. According to Sartre, this creating something from nothingness is what defines man and sets him apart from other objects.

Sartre also explores the definition of what we are through negation and nihilism. Humans know what they are based on what they are not. They also know what objects are based on what they are not. A book is a book because we know that it's not a chair, door, or any other object. By negating everything that it could be, we create what it is.

Sartre's idea of consciousness relies on objects. Without objects, humans have no consciousness. The being-for-itself, relies on the being-in-itself to know what it is not and thus know what it is. Without unconscious objects we would have no focus of our consciousness. We would have nothing to negate to create what we are. Consequently, without consciousness there would be no unconsciousness. Objects would not exist without consciousness, if there were no consciousness there would be no existence at all.

Because consciousness creates the world, it is completely free. It can be whatever it wants to be and do whatever it wants to do. Humans are conscious and thus they create their own meaning and purpose in the world. They can be whatever they desire. But because humans are created from nothing, they will also, always be nothing. They have the freedom of doing whatever they desire, but also the knowledge that they have no innate purpose or value.

Sartre's writings on consciousness are successful because they adequately explain the difference between consciousness and unconsciousness as well as the implications of both. In a post-metaphysical world, consciousness can no longer be accepted as a gift from God. Without metaphysical answers, humans must create their own definition of consciousness, which is something so unique that it can only be truly defined by what it is not. Consciousness is something without intrinsic purpose or value.

Sartre is also successful when expressing that consciousness relies on objects. Without sensual experiences, humans would have nothing to think about, nothing to bounce their consciousness off of. There would be no existence without unconscious objects as a sort of conduit of that existence. Our consciousness simply would not exist without our unconscious counterparts.

Where Sartre's writings suffer is in his understanding of how we identify unconscious objects. Humans do not rely on what something is not in order to discover what it is. If humans had to run a mental checklist of everything an object is not to discover what it is, than we would have consistent difficulty defining and identifying objects. Humans are much more likely to identify objects based on features that are distinct rather than features that do not exist.

The ultimate implication of Sartre's writings is accurate: humans must live with the knowledge that they are free as well as nothingness. In a post-metaphysical world we must accept that we lack any innate meaning and we must accept that because of that we are in control of the world.