Consciousness and Objects

Another of Sartre's ideas is that of conscious beings versus unconscious beings. He says that a human is a "being-for-itself" while an inanimate object is a "being-in-itself"(185). The distinction for this comes to subjectivity, or the awareness of being something other than an object. This is what happens in early human development. A baby is not sure of its identity for a while until it determines what it is not, and then it begins to understand that it is something, it is somebody and that there is a world outside of it. On the other hand, a sapling does not go through this process on the way to becoming a full grown oak tree. Trees, or any other unconscious object in the world have no ability to differentiate themselves from other objects and are thus in a different state of consciousness.
Sartre then goes on in the discussion to say that we want to become God because we want to be a being that is "in-itself-for-itself" (Sartre qtd. in 186). I disagree that this God is "perfectly complete and self-justifying" (186). In order to be God, one would be completely aware of everything in creation. This requires the asset I just mentioned in being able to distinguish oneself from another being. In doing this, God becomes simply a being-for-itself, not a being in-itself-for-itself.