Authenticity

Philosophy Compass 3 (2):277–290 (2008)
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Abstract

This article discusses the ordinary, the existentialist, and the virtue‐ethics senses of the word ‘authenticity’. The term ‘authentic’ in ordinary usage suggests the idea of being ‘original’ or ‘faithful to an original’, and its application implies being true to what someone (or something) truly is. It is important to see, however, that the philosopher who put this technical term on the map in existentialism, Martin Heidegger, used the word to refer to the human capacity to be fully human, not to being true to one's unique inner nature. Authenticity might also be thought of as a virtue, and interesting questions arise whether such a virtue should be regarded primarily as a personal or as a social virtue.

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Citations of this work

Aesthetic Testimony and Aesthetic Authenticity.Felix Bräuer - 2023 - British Journal of Aesthetics 63 (3):395–416.
Neurotechnologies, Relational Autonomy, and Authenticity.Mary Jean Walker & Catriona Mackenzie - 2020 - International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics 13 (1):98-119.
Moods in Layers.Achim Stephan - 2017 - Philosophia 45 (4):1481-1495.
Authenticity and Corporate Governance.Erica Steckler & Cynthia Clark - 2019 - Journal of Business Ethics 155 (4):951-963.

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References found in this work

Being and nothingness.Jean-Paul Sartre - 1956 - Avenel, N.J.: Random House.
The Ethics of Authenticity.Charles Taylor - 1991 - Harvard University Press.
Modern social imaginaries.Charles Taylor - 2004 - Durham: Duke University Press.
Virtue Ethics: A Pluralistic View.Christine Swanton - 2003 - Oxford, GB: Clarendon Press.

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