The demand for sincere self-recognition may itself be a form of bad faith.

Evidence

His friend, who is his most severe critic, becomes irritated with this duplicity. The critic asks only one thing—and perhaps then he will show himself indulgent: that the guilty one recognize himself as guilty, that the homosexual declare frankly—whether humbly or boastfully matters little—“I am a paederast.” We ask here: Who is in bad faith? The homosexual or the champion of sincerity? — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 307

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to Beauvoir’s ethics of ambiguity — sincerity as an impossible ideal, since the for-itself can never coincide with the in-itself. — connects to: The sincerity demanded by critics is itself a form of bad faith. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 309; Sincerity reveals itself as a form of bad faith — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 306; Sincerity can be an active ingredient of self-deception rather than its opposite — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1405 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Sartre leaves the question deliberately open here; worth tracing how sincerity itself collapses into bad faith two paragraphs later.

Broader Connections

• Sincerity can be an active ingredient of self-deception rather than its opposite #expands (0.90) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1405