Sincerity can be an active ingredient of self-deception rather than its opposite

Evidence

But as Sartre again argues, sincerity might not be opposed to selfdeception but an active feature of it. Men like Frans Carl Valck were not insincere in their belief in the principles of empire and in their condemnations of some of its personnel and practices. But sometimes the contradictions were harder to bear, particularly during those life moments when he at once believed in, lived by, and despised the principles themselves. Valck might better be seen as someone caught in the bind of being as Bakhtin remarked in another context, “a person [who] never coincides with himself.” — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1405

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Arendt’s ‘modern art of self-deception’ and the broader epistemic-anxiety themes of this book. — connects to: Self-deception is a stable life-style punctuated by abrupt awakenings; Imperial dispositions may be the template for modern political self-deception — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1412; Self-deception requires precise knowledge of the truth being concealed, not ignorance — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1397 (+27 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The twist that sincerity is not the antidote to self-deception but its vehicle is dense and counterintuitive, resonating across colonial subjectivities.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1405

Broader Connections

• Thus, one view of the vice of formalism takes that vice to be one of deception, either of oneself or of others. To disguise a choice in the language of definitional inexorability obscures that… #expands (0.60)
• Confusion about sincerity and sanity is common in self-help circles. #expands (0.35) — Dan Harris, 10 percent Happier, 403