nihilation-of-being

This chapter critiques Hegel's conception of self-consciousness, arguing that the relation between reflection and the reflecting consciousness is not one of identity but of a being that negates itself. Sartre emphasizes that consciousness is a concrete, unique being (ipseity) distinct from an abstract ego or self-identity, and that the recognition of self by the Other cannot achieve a universal, reciprocal self-consciousness as Hegel claims. The chapter also explores the fundamental unknowability of the Other's consciousness and the impossibility of fully objectifying oneself through the Other, challenging Hegel's optimistic epistemology and dialectic of recognition.