The Creator and the Impossible God

This thematic thread follows the for-itself's attempt to become its own foundation and the failure that makes this ideal divine.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Missing Totality

The Missing Totality Lack and Self The for-itself is a lack whose missing term is itself as a complete, self-identical being. It reaches toward a self it cannot become. Desire Every particular desire gives a concrete form to this impossible project of coincidence with oneself.

The In-Itself-For-Itself

The In-Itself-For-Itself Impossible Synthesis The desired being would combine consciousness's translucency with the in-itself's identity. The two modes of being cannot be fused without contradiction. Consequence Human reality exists as an unhappy consciousness, haunted by a totality it cannot realize.

God as the Name of the Ideal

God as the Name of the Ideal Theological Projection When the absent totality is placed beyond the world, it takes the name of God: a being that is both self-identical and self-conscious. Human Origin The concept expresses the for-itself's own impossible aspiration to be both its foundation and a complete being.

Values Haunt Freedom

Values Haunt Freedom Neither Fact nor Command Values do not exist as external forces, yet they confront freedom as claims requiring a foundation. The for-itself sustains them by action. Uneasy Authority Because freedom has no foundation outside itself, value is both compelling and unjustifiable.

A Passion Without Fulfillment

A Passion Without Fulfillment Failed Foundation Human beings seek to appropriate being and become self-grounding, but every attempt leaves the for-itself divided from the in-itself. Result The pursuit is structurally incapable of success. Human existence is defined as a passion whose goal remains impossible.

Part Two, Chapter One, Section III

Part Two, Chapter One, Section III, conclusion

Part Two, Chapter One, Section III, discussion of God

Part Two, Chapter One, Section III, account of value

Part Four, Chapter Two, closing account