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In the modern world, sincerity is the rare and often-admired virtue of speaking truly about one's feelings, thoughts, desires. Sincere expression carries risks to the speaker, since the ordinary screens used in everyday life are opened to the outside world. At the same time, we expect our friends, our lovers, our leaders "to be sincere." Virtue (Latin virtus; Greek ) is moral excellence of a man or a woman. ...
Surprisingly, sincerity has not always been regarded a virtue in Western culture. It appears to have become an ideal for the first time in Europe and North America in the 17th century; and it gained considerable momentum during the Romantic movement, when sincerity was first celebrated as an artistic and social ideal. Indeed, in mid- to late-nineteenth century America, sincerity was an idea reflected in mannerisms, hairstyles, women's dress, and the literature of the time. For alternative meanings for The West in the United States, see the U.S. West and American West. ...
(16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ...
Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ...
More recently, sincerity has been under assault by several modern developments such as psychoanalysis and postmodern developments such as deconstruction. Some scholars view sincerity as a construct rather than a moral virtue -- although any virtue can be construed as a 'mere construct' rather than an actual phenomenon. // Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud. ...
Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century...
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Construction on the North Bytown Bridge in Ottawa, Canada. ...
Literary critic Lionel Trilling dealt with the subject of sincerity, its roots, its evolution, its moral quotient, and its relationship to authenticity in a series of lectures published under the title Sincerity and Authenticity. Lionel Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, author, and teacher. ...
See also authenticity (philosophy) and authentication (which deals only with computer security). ...
Sincerity and Authenticity is a book by Lionel Trilling, based on a series of lectures he delivered in 1970 as Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard University. ...
Sincerity in Confucian societies Beyond the Western world, sincerity is notably developed as a virtue in Confucian societies (China Korea, and Japan). The concept of chéng (誠) as expounded in two of the Confucian classics, the Da Xue and the Zhong Yong is generally translated as "sincerity." As in the west, the term implies a congruence of avowal and inner feeling, but inner feeling is in turn ideally responsive to ritual propriety and social hierarchy. Thus, even today, a powerful leader will praise leaders of other realms as "sincere" to the extent that they "know their place." In Japanese the character for cheng may be pronounced makoto, and carries still more strongly the sense of loyal avowal and belief.
Etymology An often repeated etymology proposes that "sincere" derived from the Latin sine = "without", cera = "wax". According to this explanation, dishonest sculptors in Rome or Greece would cover flaws in their work with wax to deceive the viewer. There is some controversy over the source of the word. Some believe the story about the wax. The Oxford English Dictionary, however, deflates this charming etymology, sadly informing “There is no probability in the old explanation from sine cera ‘without wax’”. Instead, the OED explains "sincere" actually derives from the Latin sincerus meaning "clean, pure, sound.” According to the American Heritage Dictionary, http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE223.html, the Latin word "sincerus" is derived from the Indo-European roots "sem" and "ker," generating an underlying meaing "of one growth," hence "pure, clean." Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...
The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is generally regarded as the most comprehensive, accurate, and scholarly dictionary of the English language. ...
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