Bachelard and the Adversity of Things
Being and NothingnessThis thread follows the acknowledgment that objects resist action, while insisting that resistance becomes meaningful only within projects.
increasing
Bearing strength in each event
decreasing
Resistance Appears

Resistance Appears
Obstacles in Use
A bolt may not fit, a tool may fail, or a path may prove too steep. The world offers resistance to projects.
Relational Meaning
Resistance is not a private sensation. It is encountered through the relation between an instrumental thing and an intended task.
Project Before Adversity

Project Before Adversity
End and Situation
The same rock can obstruct a climb or provide a useful viewpoint. The chosen end makes its resistance intelligible.
Freedom
The for-itself does not invent the rock, but it determines whether the rock appears as obstacle, aid, or irrelevant presence.
No Absolute Obstacle

No Absolute Obstacle
Variable Limits
An obstacle for one person may not be one for another. Its coefficient depends on the person's body, skill, ends, and situation.
Concrete Freedom
Freedom acts only in a resisting world, but the resistance has meaning only within a free project.
The Given as Situation

The Given as Situation
Not Subjective or Objective Alone
A situation combines facticity with a freely chosen end. Neither side can be removed without losing the phenomenon.
Responsibility
The person is responsible for the meaning of the situation while not being the foundation of the brute facts it contains.
Freedom's Resistant World

Freedom's Resistant World
Conditions of Action
Without independent existents there would be nothing to change and no meaningful action. Resistance is required for freedom to act.
Reciprocal Dependence
Freedom reveals the world as resistant, while the world provides the field in which freedom becomes concrete.
Part Two, Chapter Three, discussion of instrumentality
Part Four, Chapter One, Section II
Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, discussion of adversity
Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, synthesis
Part Four, Chapter One, discussion of the world and adversity