Bad faith is the contradiction of asserting both freedom and its absence at once

Evidence

Bad faith is essentially irrational because it asserts two mutually contradictory principles, that one is free and that one is not free. Thus contrary to the Scholastic who would have man start with reason but ultimately gain salvation by departing from reason (even if this means to go “beyond reason”), the existentialist hero recognizes the irrational nature of his initial choice but saves himself by a rational acceptance of the hard facts of his condition. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 77

Categorization

• DEFINE: Compresses bad faith to its logical core: simultaneously asserting one is free and not free, which is why it counts as irrational.
• XREF: Connects to Beauvoir’s later division into the serious man, the subman, and the adventurer, who all evade this contradiction in different bad-faith ways. — connects to: Psychological guilt stems from evading one’s absolute freedom through bad faith — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 71; Bad faith requires the for-itself to both be and not be what it is — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 313; Bad faith collapses the deceiver and deceived into one consciousness — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 280 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Bad faith requires the for-itself to both be and not be what it is #expands (0.90) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 313