Sartre's Bad Faith Example: The Woman on a Date Analyzed
Jean-Paul Sartre's 1943 work 'Being and Nothingness' includes a famous example of a woman on a date to illustrate bad faith. The woman, referred to as A, is on a date with a man, B, who makes romantic advances. When B takes her hand, she ignores it as if it were an object, avoiding a decision. Sartre's example relies on the outdated concept of 'female frigidity' to explain her fear of her own body and sexuality. The key point is not whether she wants sex, but that she denies having to choose at all. Sartre argues that by refusing to choose, she effectively chooses not to sleep with B, thus denying her radical freedom and responsibility. The article also presents a parallel scenario involving a man named C who must choose between giving a million-dollar prize to a moral saint or his friend D. C storms out, refusing to choose, but the rules dictate that Player One (the saint) wins by default. Both A and C are in bad faith because they pretend they have no choice, avoiding the anxiety of freedom and responsibility. Sartre's concept of bad faith is the pretense that humans lack the radical freedom to choose their own destiny.
Key facts
- Sartre's example appears in 'Being and Nothingness' (1943), chapter two, section II, 'Patterns of Bad Faith'.
- The woman on the date is unnamed but referred to as A; the man is B.
- When B takes A's hand, she pretends it is an inanimate object to avoid reacting.
- Sartre uses the outdated concept of 'female frigidity' to explain A's fear of her own body.
- The bad faith lies in A's refusal to acknowledge she must make a choice.
- Refusing to choose is itself a choice, according to Sartre.
- A parallel example involves a man C who must choose between a moral saint and his friend D for a million-dollar prize.
- C storms out, but by refusing to choose, he gives the prize to the moral saint.
- Both A and C deny their radical freedom to avoid responsibility for their choices.
- Bad faith is the pretense that humans do not have the freedom to choose their own destiny.
Entities
Artists
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- Simone de Beauvoir
Institutions
- TheCollector
- Wikimedia Commons