Bad faith

Common card · No. 248103

Bad faith (Latin: mala fidēs) is a sustained form of deception which consists of entertaining or pretending to entertain one set of feelings while acting as if influenced by another. It is associated with hypocrisy, breach of contract, affectation, and lip service. It may involve intentional deceit of others, or self-deception. Some examples of bad faith include: soldiers waving a white flag and then firing when their enemy approaches to take prisoners (cf. perfidy); a company representative who negotiates with union workers while having no intent of compromising; a prosecutor who argues a legal position that he knows to be false; and an insurer who uses language and reasoning which are deliberately misleading in order to deny a claim. Generally considered an ethically reprehensible practice, dealing in bad faith may be viewed more positively from a consequentialist perspective, for example, in the problem of dirty hands. It may be viewed as a method of survival or pragmatic management...

Read on Wikipedia · Image CyberGhostface, Public domain