Authenticity

Authenticity and Existentialism

Authenticity and Existentialism

Introduction

Authenticity involves being true to oneself, it became related to moral philosophy. If people decide morally only on the basis of their personal beliefs or interests, we cannot criticize individual acts that are morally problematic from the perception of shared values and beliefs in society (Painter-Morland, 2007).

Discussion

Key Themes of Philosophy of Existence

First, philosophies of existence are philosophically radical inasmuch as they renounce the formalism and systematization practiced by traditional philosophy, now viewed as too remote from life and too rational in its approach to Being. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is a particular target of such critiques. With its roots in a skeptical tradition, existentialist philosophy may be characterized as a style of thinking that throws familiar, personal experience into question, often addressing its audience in the first-person rather than positing or classifying truths in an abstract, theoretical way. Existentialists strive for a rigorous analysis of religious, extraordinary, but most often prosaic experiences to explore what they reveal about the human condition (Crowell, 2008).

Second, a corollary of existentialists' ethical interest in what it would mean to live authentically is a critique of the inauthentic life. This is typically associated with mindless conformity to social or moral convention and with an existence that is consequently perceived to be shallow and banal. This pathology chimes with Weberian and Marxist critiques of modernity, complementing critical modernists' concerns about rationalization and alienation. Nietzsche's contempt for the tame herd animals to which life-denying customs condemn us, Heidegger's conception of “everyman,” and Sartre's notion of bad faith are all examples of the inauthentic life (Crowell, 2008).

Third, existentialism is associated with autonomy, individualism, and liberty. To some extent, it therefore resonates with liberalism. However, existentialism is interested in the ontological aspects of such norms and the existential possibility of living them, rather than in political (negative) liberty or normative universals. To exist authentically, existentialists believe, individuals must wean themselves from the security of merely following public opinion, common sense, or scientific or religious dogma. This means recognizing their singularity, perhaps by confronting the uniqueness of their own death, as Heidegger suggests. Authenticity and freedom are associated with taking responsibility for one's own existence and decisions, where determinism or moral imperatives are judged to be alibis excusing bad faith rather than a legitimate explanation of the human condition. Rather than focusing on duty to a rule, the ethical life means existing without hypocrisy but with passionate fidelity to commitments sustained despite the lack of any final reasons or authority to justify them (Yue, 2009).

This is related to a fourth existentialist theme, which is a concern with subjective experience. Existentialism pays attention to emotions and moods in a way that is philosophically distinctive. Its interest lies not in psychology but in the more general ethos or style of being that a particular mood imparts or in the way an emotional event might shock an individual from his or her complacency. Thus, Kierkegaard distinguishes between the ascetic, tepid way most believers subscribe to religious doctrines and ...