Categorie: 20e eeuw

En-soi and Pour-soi

En-Soi (being-in-itself, objective) vs. Pour-Soi (being-for-itself, subjective)

Sartre defines two types, or ways, of being: en-soi, or being-in-itself, and pour-soi, or being-for-itself. He uses the first of these, en-soi, to describe things that have a definable and complete essence yet are not conscious of themselves or their essential completeness. Trees, rocks, and birds, for example, fall into this category. Sartre uses pour-soi to describe human beings, who are defined by their possession of consciousness and, more specifically, by their consciousness of their own existence—and, as Sartre writes, by their consciousness of lacking the complete, definable essence of the en-soi. This state of being-for-itself is not just defined by self-consciousness—it would not exist without that consciousness. In Sartre’s philosophical system, the interplay and difference between these two manners of being is a constant and indispensable point of discussion.

From https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/sartre/themes/

Pour toi mon amour
Je suis allé au marché aux oiseaux
Et j’ai acheté des oiseaux
Pour toi mon amour
Je suis allé au marché aux fleurs
Et j’ai acheté des fleurs
Pour toi mon amour
Je suis allé au marché à la ferraille
Et j’ai acheté des chaines
De lourdes chaines
Pour toi mon amour
Et puis je suis allé au marché aux esclaves
Et je t’ai cherchée
Mais je ne t’ai pas trouvée
Mon amour