Heidegger defines guilt in general as a condition in which an agent is the reason for a lack, and there is no adequate reason (as judged according to our shared standards for judging such things) that could justify being the reason for the lack. Existential guilt is a species of this more general form of guilt, and consists in being the null reason for a nullity – that is, the agent in question is responsible without adequate justification (i.e., the agent is a null reason) for a form of existence that negates or extinguishes other possible forms of existence (a nullity).