Sartre's Apprehension Of Nothingness

The apprehension of Nothingness, the freedom that is human reality, and the anguish that arises from this freedom are all unpleasant experiences for consciousness to apprehend and understand. It is for this reason that the for-itself expresses the tendency to flee from the truth of these unfavourable conditions in what Sartre calls Bad Faith. Bad Faith is a condition with which the for-itself is constantly engaged, to the point of inescapability. This is because the for-itself longs for the impossible synthesis of becoming the in-itself-for-itself, but this is to annihilate consciousness (as for-itself). As such, the for-itself ‘pretends’ to be, or ‘plays at’ being something equal in status to the in-itself. Consider the aforementioned example

Sartre himself describes consciousness in the manner of a cogito, establishing the existence of a being from the upsurge of its cogito. Sartre writes: “Being apprehends itself as not being its own foundation, and this apprehension is at the basis of every cogito” (Sartre, 127). Descartes’ original formulation of the cogito takes the form of: ‘I think; therefore I am’; it is undeniable that this Cartesian thesis itself is formulated in the mode of language. I argue that it is due to this cogito (operating in language) that the concept of existence first arises in the for-itself. Furthermore, the concept of existence itself is only possible from the point of view of the for-itself, as the being that causes the world to be. If this is the case, then there is neither world nor the concept of existence apart from the for-itself. As such, it is the for-itself that establishes the conceptual framework (as structure or order) that is forced upon the world (the world that is made to be by the for-itself). Sartre states numerous times throughout the book that Nothingness and Freedom of consciousness are concepts. My question is how can these concepts themselves come to fruition without the conceptual framework that is language? Sartre’s analysis of the conditions of human reality can only occur within the conceptual framework of language, and therefore language is indispensible in the description of the for-itself. Correspondingly, it is in the mode of language that the for-itself distinguishes itself from the in-itself as not being itself. If this is the case, then language is indispensible in the conditions of the for-itself as human reality. Sartre argues that by asking questions we anticipate the possibility of a negative response, and this