Being and Nothingness according to Jean-Paul Sartre - Essay Example

?Topic :Being and Nothingness; an Essay on Phenomenological Ontology The idea of philosophy is very ancient, and Phenomenological ontology is a theory put forward by Jean Paul Sartre, on the real identity of beings. Phenomenological ontology is a situation proposed by Sartre, where he asserts that existence of self is prior to the essence of an individual. Here, the being and nothingness are the two important factors he is throwing light upon. Here the famous phrase of Descartes is “I think therefore I am”, it means exactly that one is aware of the existence of self. This cogito which is a philosophical principle is a well known notion and is more or less what Descartes have in mind. Generally, Phenomenological ontology is the study of consciousness of being and its perception with outside objects. Sartre explains that our perception of the external world is absolute and pure. He also suggests that our perception of objects is of finite nature, and our self perceive them with the help of the senses .He is of the idea that what we see in the outside world is what we know and what we get. In his philosophical theory argues that, the being – in –itself and being- for- itself are distinct aspects of this realistic world. Here being – in –itself are the unconscious beings and being- for -itself is the conscious being. As per Sartre, being –in -itself is stable and isn’t aware of its existence, whereas being – for- itself is aware of its own consciousness. These both beings are distinct from each other and constitute the existence of the universe. Being – in– itself cannot change its form with its own will as it does not have will or consciousness. However being – for – itself has free will, awareness and chooses to act right or wrong. Anyway Sartre sees the being – for –itself as incomplete and indefinite, as it can go to any limit with its dynamic consciousness .This is what makes a man undetermined, indefinable and conscious creature. Since for – itself or a man in other terms is absent of a pre – determined essence, it is intimidated or forced to create itself from nothingness or voidness. According to Sartre voidness or nothingness is the very explainable characteristic of a human being. For example a rock is a rock, and can do nothing to change its shape or form. But in case of being – for –itself can change its shape, form and even decide what he want to do or not to do. Man has the power to act in this world, and also can interact with physical objects which are being – in – itself. We can see that a man is not simply being here in this world, but also is actuating himself with the power of consciousness and awareness. A man or a self can create a whole dynamic world of himself by perceiving the objects of the universe .His consciousness is of infinite power and this gives him ability to perceive being – in – itself in a dynamic way. According to Sartre being – for – itself take many positions in life and identify itself with it. For example a person can get educated as a doctor and think himself to be doctor .This is not the reality, as he is the consciousness and not a degree or job role which he has possessed in life. In reality the foundation of man is nothingness and he does not realize this in his real life. To be creative and vibrant being – for – itself has to come in contact with the being-in – itself. In actual sense, human being are nothingness and to avoid it is own nothingness, it tries to interact with the being – in – itself. The being – for –itself has the power of imagination and becoming creative. He solely depends on the physical objects in the universe to activate his creativeness and imagination. It is also not possible for a being – for itself to know a being without becoming that being. For example, to know a tree, we have to be that tree; there is no other possible way to know it .A man being nothingness, has the ability to know the absence of a being, as a mom can feel the emptiness left by her child on his death. The existence of being and nothingness and their union is a thing of absolute beauty. Individuals can be aware of its self only by interacting and confronting with people and this is the sole reason people love to socialize with others much of the time. The being – for –itself has the ability to understand what it is and what it is not. Since a man real identity is voidness or nothingness he attempts to tackle it by absorbing being – in – itself or consuming it. According to Sartre a man is nothingness and he is aware of his void nature and connects with being – in –itself to complete his state of nothingness. Sartre constantly claims that man is free, transcendental in nature with a consciousness of creative and imaginative power. However, being – in itself can never be understood or possessed by being – for –itself .In the same way being - for – itself can never comprehend the union of for –itself and in –itself. Sartre states that being is absolute form of existence and also mass of matter with no sense of differentiation. It is the consciousness which give way to the emergence of world with the assistance of being – for itself and along with it bring nothingness and negation too. However, consciousness is always alerts and is aware of something at all times. In the absence of consciousness there would be no tree, rock or whole universe. Moreover the for – itself always depends on the being – in – itself to acquire completeness and perfection. So here in this phenomenological ontology the author states that, human being is nothingness and comes in contact with being – in – itself to become complete. Read More