Will and Excession

Sartre vacillates in his characterization of Consciousness--sometimes its relation to its object is cognitive, and sometimes it is normative. In the latter cases, it interprets its object as deficient in some respect, but, when it does, Sartre shows that the deficiency originates in Consciousness itself, not in the object. So, either as cognitive or as normative, Consciousness is spontaneous, i. e. it is, with respect to its object, 'de trop', i. e. absurd and excessive with respect to its object. Now, in Formaterialism, Will is, analogously, a principle of Excession, with respect to given conditions, i. e. it is self-activating, but it is neither deficient nor absurd. Rather, it is a surplus with respect to the given, the initiation of an episode of personal growth, i. e. of the fundamental conatus of an individual.