The paper provides Sartre's assertions on Being and Nothingness considering the aspects of metaphysical realization, radical liberty and Bad faith. It defines Nothingness in respect to the physical sense. The essay addresses Attendant Responsibility as the capacity to distinguish existence and non existence. Concludes by offering an understanding of how beings relate to others and the idea of ‘Person'.
¶ … Sartre draws in Being and Nothingness
The term nothingness refers to a state where being lacks. Situations arise where, in the visual and physical sense, nothing exists. In cases that exhibit a lack of existence, nothingness arises. Let us consider a situation where person X makes arrangements meet up with person Y at a specified physical location. In cases where person X turns up, but person Y fails, person X cannot physically meet person Y. In such situations, the feeling of nothingness arises in person X, due to the lacking experienced.
Nothingness reflects the occurrence of non-existence (Sartre 290-308). As an individual, in first person, an existence occurs, the presence of being overrides non-existence. The existence of a person, as such, thrives on the non-existence of another under the same circumstances. Nothingness and being do not exist on the same platform, when one exists, it negates the other one. As such, the negation of being explains nothingness, and the occurrence of nothingness refers to a lack of the expected.
The phrase 'Being' refers to the core of existence of something. The state of occurrence, both in the physical and psychological aspects, reflects situations where the negation comes out as null and void. The non-existence of nothingness creates a void that gets filled by being (Sartre 290-308). As such, being thrives in the absence of nothingness, thereby becoming more tangible and expressive. The property of nothingness lends it a characteristic that cannot get studied, due to its amorphous nature.
Metaphysics studies the nature of being, owing to its characteristics that can get analyzed, metaphysically. Metaphysics represents a remarkable science that undertakes the study of certain limits of the realm of being. Being can get, metaphysically, studied as in existence and, in most cases, under the aspects that occur most generally, like being in its own existence. This, further, clarifies the being as an existing entity.
Sartre takes an analysis of nothingness of consciousness. He concludes that the identity of being arises from its existence while consciousness of being leads to identification (Sartre 309-328). This explains the take that in its existence, consciousness does not reflect nothingness, rather the situation of being. He writes that in situations where the occurrence of consciousness in nothing supersedes nothingness, a contradiction of terms exists. This lies in the fact that consciousness of nothingness reflects emptiness, therefore, non-existence.
In addressing the aspect of radical freedom of the human mind, Sartre writes that the human mind deserves the right to discern the existence of being or nothingness. He speculates that the mind lies in an idle state while waiting for the existence of being. As such, being possesses a potentiality of occurring, as opposed to nothingness. Nothingness reflects a relation with being (Sartre 309-328). As such, the human mind holds the only responsibility of drawing a conclusion of nothingness due to lack of it relative to being.
The attendant responsibility of the human mind lies in the ability to discern and differentiate on the aspects of existence and lack of existence. The ability to identify being correct proves a crucial step towards the identification of nothingness, due to the relation between the two. Therefore, the radical freedom at the disposals of the human mind enhances the undertaking of the responsibility of identification, analysis and differentiating between being and nothingness.
The rise of bad faith arises in the acceptance of nothingness at the expense of being. Sartre defines self-deception as a situation where the mind, by its freedom, chooses to deliver a situation of not being in place of being itself (Sartre, 328-348). it, therefore, allows the thriving of self-deception, whereby that which should undergo negation suppresses the being, thereby defeating truth and its existence. Bad faith and self-deception occur as the same thing, all purposed to defeat the truth that gets a reflection of being, therefore, consciousness.
Taking an example of lying to explain the rise of bad faith and self-deception, the situation gets clearer. The person telling a lie undergoes self-deception, in that, the truth gets suppressed by its negation. The lie presents a negation of truth; therefore, the consciousness returns a situation that does not reflect the truth. In saying the lie to another person, the person saying the lie acts in bad faith, in that the truth remains negated.
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