SARTRE

Introduction

Faith is trust in a person or a thing. Social ethics involves the faith that outlines the concepts of right and wrong conduct. Socially faith and ethics are supposed to be paramount to every individual of the community. This is not always true as there are elements that hinder members of the society from trusting each other as a result of poor moral ethics. This causes conflicts between spiritually destructive, oppressive and the way of being dominant in the society. The concept of faith develops the ontology of what is to be human.  This cause’s radical and groundlessness freedom which is evident in the human condition. As a result, there is an unstable existence of facts and freedom in the unresponsive world. Sartre philosophy is based on existentialism and humanism in relation to faith. In this paper, I will argue that Sartre Successfully defended his argument about bad faith, authenticity (good faith) and sincerity and why sincerity sounds like authenticity at first though it is an act of bad faith and his concept is faced with challenges as well.

The concept of bad faith defines the phenomenon of human beings in the society who are under pressure due to the societal forces that result in the adoption of false values and disowning the innate freedom resulting in the acting off in authentically. This can closely relate to the idea of self-deception and resentment. Individuals have the freedom to make choices that guide them throughout their living. Individuals are tied to freedom and cannot avoid it even in extreme situations (Churchill and Reynolds, 2014).  Sartre argues that although there are external circumstances that may cause a limit to individuals no force can be used on a person to follow a different course over another and it is for this reason why individuals choose in anguish. This is because a choice has to be made and there are consequences that will result due to the choice made. It is true to say that to claim one amongst a number will consciously take undeniable precedence. This manifests self-deceiving because human are conscious and they are always on the known side of intentional objects (Churchill and Reynolds, 2014).

Sartre example of a woman on a first date. The woman will obviously ignore any sexual implication on the date and will accept compliments that are associated with her physical appearance rather than the words that are directed to her as human consciousness. The moment the man holds her hand to rest in his aim it will lie indifferently and she will neither resist or consent the gesture or rebuke it. There will be a delay during the moment when she is supposed to make a choice on whether to acknowledge the advances or reject them or at the same time give in (Churchill and Reynolds, 2014).  The young woman will consistently consider her hand as the only thing in the world and by his compliments to her unrelated body will play a dual human reality and the physical being. This consciousness divides the freedom from physically apart. This is an act of bad faith according to Sartre due to the fact that the woman is denying herself the freedom to be actively involved. This means that the person involved is aware and can sense it and they are unaware they are free (Churchill and Reynolds, 2014).

Authenticity which means good faith is also a concept of Sartre. This is the strong sense of being. This means being faithful, reliable, accurate and presentable. This means that the individual professes to be who they are meant to be.  For an individual being one-self is inescapable and whatever choice or act on the make is with oneself. An individual who acts in accordance with desires, ideas, motivates and the belief is not only theirs but also expresses their reality. Authenticity impacts the society and political thinking. Individuals may become self-portraits becoming the center of attention due to who they are as individuals (Churchill and Reynolds, 2014).

Sincerity by Sartre is being free from pretense, hypocrisy or deceit. Socially a sincere person is seen to be an individual who honestly attempts to neither violate any expectation oh him to uphold from him by the society nor strive to show himself than what he is ought to. The ideal of sincerity have lost it normative appeal and it is referred to as heroism of dumb service. This has led to the attack of those who are passively internalized by a particular social ethos (Churchill and Reynolds, 2014). According to Sartre sincerity is a unique mode and not a virtue of self-deception. There are reasons why Sartre believe so. To begin with Sartre concept of freedom does not appear to be eye-catching nowadays. A number of individuals tend to reason that determinism and human freedom is linked, but according to Sartre they are incompatible. This is because human actions are antecedent events that are causally necessitated which are incompatible with the fact that humans are free. Secondly, he believes that sincerity contains considerations that do not presuppose any notion of incompatibility by freedom (Churchill and Reynolds, 2014).

According to Sartre sincerity sounds as good faith at first but it is an act of bad faith. This is because Sartre argues that there are underlying reasons why one may want to come out sincere. This is driven by the act of bad faith. There are individual reasons that drive and motivates such an act. This is enhanced by the fact one is aware of their thetical actions. This is because it is inevitable in an individual ambiguity that will involve the relation to the experience of perception. The aim is mainly focused on the overcoming the obstacles that hinder a particular outcome (Bernstein, 2011).

Bad faith is evident in the society, good faith is a challenge and sincerity is difficult to analyze. This is because the society is complex in nature and trying to identify each individual intention of acting in a particular manner is difficult. The extent in which sincerity is considered as bad faith is based on personal judgment.  Sartre may have considered sincerity as bad faith but it is true to say that Sartre’s theory did not put into consideration the analysis of what sincerity try to sow (Bernstein, 2011).

Sincerity should not be considered as an act of bad faith. This is because even if it is driven by external forces there is always the thought of doing well by individuals. This is because of the consciousness that individuals possess.  It is said that pretense will most find its way and be considered as sincerity but sincerity is done with the intention to help. This is because the concept that drives it is essential in human conditions. Arguably the human society is made up around bad faith because it possesses cultural and socio norms that create the role of the individual to adhere to this policy in order to successfully adopt in the society daily activities (Santoni, (2010).

It is true to say without bad faith in which sincerity is considered to be we would be living in the world that is uncertain which would cause individuals to ensure a permanent state of anxiety which would become debilitating and exhausting. This shows that priest, doctors and lawyers take hypocritical oaths but they never deny one from exercising their faith as it is a freedom of choice and accountability. This is enhanced by not viewing ad faith to be interchangeable with authenticity (Santoni, (2010).

Conclusion

From Sartre concept, it is true to say that bad faith and sincerity deceives individuals since there are motives that drive an individual to act in a manner they do. Sincerity, good faith, and bad faith have a particular attention in the possibility of overcoming bad faith. There is no cynical lie in bad faith because its first act is to free what it cannot free. Bad faith possesses a permanent threat to human beings because its consciousness conceals with it becoming a permanent risk. In the light of this remarks, it is possible to say that Sartre concepts deal with the ontological review of human consciousness not as a whole but as an instantaneous center of human being.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Churchill .S and Reynolds .J (2014); Jean-Paul Sartre: Key concept; Routledge

Santoni, R. E. (2010). Bad faith, good faith, and authenticity in Sartre's early philosophy.             Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Bernstein, R. J. (2011). Praxis and action: Contemporary philosophies of human activity.             Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.