The Weight of a Past Choice

Being and Nothingness

This thread follows how the for-itself chooses a past, becomes bound to it, and may reinterpret it through a changed project.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

Past as Chosen Past as Chosen from "Being and Nothingness". Past as Chosen No Neutral Inheritance The past is not a store of facts that acts by itself. The living person assumes it through a present project.

Past as Chosen from "Being and Nothingness". Past as Chosen No Neutral Inheritance The past is not a store of facts that acts by itself. The living person assumes it through a present project.

Past as Chosen No Neutral Inheritance The past is not a store of facts that acts by itself. The living person assumes it through a present project. Facticity The person cannot remove what happened, but can change the meaning under which the past is carried forward.

A Project Reorders Memory A Project Reorders Memory from "Being and Nothingness". A Project Reorders Memory Changing Emphasis A new end can make an earlier act appear as preparation, failure, betrayal, or accident.

A Project Reorders Memory from "Being and Nothingness". A Project Reorders Memory Changing Emphasis A new end can make an earlier act appear as preparation, failure, betrayal, or accident.

A Project Reorders Memory Changing Emphasis A new end can make an earlier act appear as preparation, failure, betrayal, or accident. The event remains while its place in the life changes. Limits The past is not freely rewritten in every detail. Its content is fixed even as its significance remains open.

The Soldier's Identity The Soldier's Identity from "Being and Nothingness". The Soldier's Identity Assumed Past A retired soldier may choose to understand himself through a former campaign and its hardships.

The Soldier's Identity from "Being and Nothingness". The Soldier's Identity Assumed Past A retired soldier may choose to understand himself through a former campaign and its hardships.

The Soldier's Identity Assumed Past A retired soldier may choose to understand himself through a former campaign and its hardships. His present conduct keeps that past alive. Self-Confirmation The chosen identity shapes later actions, reinforcing the meaning the person has given to the events he cannot change.

Memory as an Order Memory as an Order from "Being and Nothingness". Memory as an Order Practical Demands A remembered commitment may seem to command the present, but its urgency comes from the person's current choice to honor…

Memory as an Order from "Being and Nothingness". Memory as an Order Practical Demands A remembered commitment may seem to command the present, but its urgency comes from the person's current choice to honor…

Memory as an Order Practical Demands A remembered commitment may seem to command the present, but its urgency comes from the person's current choice to honor it. Reassumption The past has force only when freedom recovers it. Refusing it is also an act that gives it a new meaning.

The Past's Open Meaning The Past's Open Meaning from "Being and Nothingness". The Past's Open Meaning No Final Judgment A life can be assessed only within a project that selects and interprets its episodes.

The Past's Open Meaning from "Being and Nothingness". The Past's Open Meaning No Final Judgment A life can be assessed only within a project that selects and interprets its episodes.

The Past's Open Meaning No Final Judgment A life can be assessed only within a project that selects and interprets its episodes. While the person lives, the assessment remains revisable. Ethical Stakes Responsibility concerns not only present action but the way a person carries and redefines what has already been.

Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, discussion of the past

Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, discussion of historical choice

Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, example of the retired soldier

Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, after the soldier example

Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, conclusion