The phrase "acknowledge itself" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts where something recognizes or validates its own existence or status.
Example: "The system is designed to be self-aware and can acknowledge itself when it encounters an error."
Alternatives: "recognize itself" or "validate its own existence".
But precisely because their attitudes are so bluntly hedonistic and apolitical, Harold and Kumar manage to be fairly persuasive when they get around to criticizing the status quo, which the movie has the wit to acknowledge itself as part of.
If we would learn from their lost successes in our own era of misrule, reconsidering this idea — that a ruling class should acknowledge itself for what it really is, and act accordingly — might be a fruitful place to start.
The fundamental point of Douthat's column is that there is such a thing as an American ruling class, and it "should acknowledge itself for what it really is, and act accordingly".
It has published a lot of material that it shouldn't have done – which it periodically acknowledges itself.
Some of them purport to convey the soil alone; and in those cases in which the powers of government, as well as the soil, are conveyed to individuals, the crown has always acknowledged itself to be bound by the grant.
That distortion says much about the Academy — much that the Academy wouldn't like to acknowledge about itself.
It is the underbelly that in a way defines what Bollywood actually is but rarely wants to acknowledge about itself".
That distortion says much about the Academy much that the Academy wouldn't like to acknowledge about itself.
The Chinese elite doesn't fully acknowledge the problem itself.
Even those troubled by the widening use of cone-beam technology acknowledge that by itself, the risk from a single scan is relatively small.
Although trompe l'oeil deceives in its realistic illusions, we have to acknowledge that deception itself is also real and has its own value.
