Sartre Being And Nothingness Analysis

Lying to others is wrong, but lying to oneself is much worst. Oftentimes, we are so concern of our outward appearance, of how we appear to others, but also we often forget who we really are. Hence, this paper will talk about this phenomenon in the light of Sartre’s concept of “bad faith”. For this matter, this paper will have to talk about the following: first, I will talk about the nature of Sartre’s concept of bad faith; second, I will talk about what makes bad faith a negation to an authentic self; third, I will present my insight about this topic. In Sartre’s work Being and Nothingness he talks about a particular attitude of a person which draws out a negative impact to one’s own self which he calls bad faith. Sartre’s discussion of this …show more content…
In other words, it is a lying to oneself in which the liar and the lied are one and the same person. Bad faith according to Sartre happens whenever a person thinks of himself as someone who is not what he really is. In this way, a person in bad faith tries to make an escape to his real self. It plays a role of another person, attitude, norms and cultures of a particular society, among others, telling his own self that it is what he should be and what he is. Thus, in doing so, he is making a lie to his own self by trying to portray a role that is not his. Further, as in any case of a lie, it also follows that the person who is lying also knows the truth of his lie, that is before it makes a lie he knows already the truth about what he is lying. In this case of a person lying to himself by thinking of his own as other being instead of what he is, does not mean that he does not know who he really is, but only that he just refuses to accept who he really is, he refuses to accept his own self and instead, try to find an escape by lying to himself that he is what he is not. Hence, such person who is in bad faith lies to himself that he is not what he is, and instead assume another self that is not what he really is. He flees from his own himself by assuming a role not of his own. He is therefore separate from his real self and is therefore an inauthentic