Being-in-itself is the self-contained and
fully realized Being of objects.
It is a term used in early 20th century continental
philosophy, especially in the works of Martin
Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir,
and the existentialists.
== Being-in-itself for Heidegger ==
In the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, Being-in-itself
is contrasted with the being of persons, which
he terms Dasein.
(Heidegger 1962, p. H.27) "Dasein means: care
of the Being of beings as such that is ecstatically
disclosed in care, not only of human Being...Dasein
is itself by virtue of its essential relation
to Being in general."
(Heidegger 2000, p. H.31) Heidegger recognized
the dangers inherent to talking about Being
in general and particular beings, and thus
devoted space in Being and Time and the Introduction
to Metaphysics to an explication of the differences;
often noted by translators who distinguish
Being (Sein), from a being (das Seiende).
His attention to the complication is helpful
for those who are looking for detailed explanation,
but rarely clears the air of confusions.
Dasein is Being that is aware of, and interested
in, its own Being.
Dasein is, by its nature, invested in social
interaction and society.
This is because in Heidegger's metaphysical
system, one of the most fundamental ways to
understand Being is through relationships.
All things stand in a relation to all other
things — and by virtue of his stress on
Dasein's ontological distinction, things may
also stand in relation to Dasein.
(Heidegger 1962, p. H.78) The argument for
this claim draws heavily on Hegel's great
work, the Phenomenology of Spirit.
Essentially, Being in itself is one of Heidegger's
main concerns throughout his authorship.
Despite Heidegger's interest in it, he returns
— more often than not indirectly — to
the subject by interrogating other concepts
that simply invoke Being without explicitly
acknowledging it.
In other words, whereas Heidegger calls the
being of persons 'Dasein', he determines 'Being
in itself' to be at the same time the most
vague and general concept possible to contemplate,
but also the topic of greatest interest to
him as a philosopher.
== Being-in-itself for Sartre ==
In Sartrean existentialism, being-in-itself
(être-en-soi) is also contrasted with the
being of persons, which he describes as a
combination of, or vacillation or tension
between, being-for-itself (être-pour-soi)
and being-for-others (I'être-pour-autrui).Being-in-itself
refers to objects in the external world — a
mode of existence that simply is.
It is not conscious so it is neither active
nor passive and harbors no potentiality for
transcendence.
This mode of being is relevant to inanimate
objects, but not to humans, who Sartre says
must always make a choice.One of the problems
of human existence for Sartre is the desire
to attain being-in-itself, which he describes
as the desire to be God — this is a longing
for full control over one's destiny and for
absolute identity, only attainable by achieving
full control over the destiny of all existence.
The desire to be God is one of the ways people
fall into bad faith.
Sartre's famous depiction of a man in a café
who has applied himself to a portrayal of
his role as a waiter illustrates this.
The waiter thinks of himself as being a waiter
(as in being-in-itself), which Sartre says
is impossible since he cannot be a waiter
in the sense that an inkwell is an inkwell.
He is primarily a man (being-for-itself),
just one who happens to be functioning as
a waiter – with no fixed nature or essence,
who is constantly recreating himself.
He is guilty of focusing on himself as being-in-itself
and not being-for-itself.
Sartre would say that as a human, a being-for-itself
by nature, the waiter is "a being that is
not what it is and it is what it is not."
Therefore, the waiter who acts as if he is
at his very core a waiter "is not what [he]
is"- which is to say, he is not solely a waiter-
and "is what [he] is not"- meaning that he
is many things other than a waiter.
In simply playing the part of a waiter, the
man in this example is reducing himself to
a "being-in-itself" and is therefore in bad
faith.
== See also ==
20th-century philosophy
Existence
Existentialism
Bad faith
Phenomenology
Noumenon
Hegelianism
== Notes ==
== References ==
Heidegger, Martin (1962), Being and Time,
The Camelot Press.
Heidegger, Martin (2000), Introduction to
Metaphysics, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-08328-9
== Further reading ==
Essays in Existentialism by Jean-Paul Sartre
Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul
Sartre
The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir
