Childhood’s promise of divinity explains why serious-mindedness is the most common bad faith

Evidence

It is easily understood why, of all the attitudes which are not genuine, the latter is the most widespread; because every man was first a child. After having lived under the eyes of the gods, having been given the promise of divinity, one does not readily accept becoming simply a man with all his anxiety and doubt. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 44

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Piaget and developmental accounts of childhood egocentrism and adult moral reification.