Authenticity is a concept of personality in the fields of psychology,existential psychotherapy,existentialist philosophy, andaesthetics. In existentialism, authenticity is the degree to which a person's actions are congruent with theirvalues and desires, despite external pressures to social conformity. Theconscious self comes to terms with the condition ofGeworfenheit, of having beenthrown into anabsurd world (without values and meaning) not of their own making, thereby encountering external forces and influences different from and other thanthe Self.[2] Authenticity has emerged as a central concept in contemporary models of well-being and the good life, serving as a foundational principle in many leading psychological frameworks.[3] A person’s lack of authenticity is consideredbad faith in dealing with other people and with one's self; thus, authenticity is in the instruction of theOracle of Delphi: “Know thyself.”[4] Concerningauthenticity in art, the philosophersJean Paul Sartre andTheodor Adorno held opposing views and opinions aboutjazz, a genre of American music; Sartre said that jazz is authentic and Adorno said that jazz is inauthentic. Many musical subcultures require artistic authenticity, lest the community consider an artist to be aposeur for lacking authenticity (creative, musical, or personal);[5] artistic authenticity is integral to many genres of music, including but not limited to genres ofrock (such aspunk rock andheavy metal),club music (such ashouse andtechno), andhip-hop.[6]
In the 18th century,Romantic philosophers recommendedintuition, emotion, and a connection to Nature as the necessary counterbalances to theintellectualism of theAge of Enlightenment.[7][clarification needed] In the 20th century, Anglo–American preoccupations with authenticity centered on the writings ofexistentialist philosophers whose native tongue is not English; therefore, the faithful, true, and accurate translation of the termexistentialism was much debated, to which end the philosopherWalter Kaufmann assembled a canon of existentialist philosophers. Kaufmann's canon includes the DaneSøren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), the GermanMartin Heidegger (1889–1976), and the FrenchmanJean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980). For these existentialists, theconscious Self comes to terms with existence (being and living) in an absurd, materialist world featuring external forces, e.g.Geworfenheit (Thrown-ness), and intellectual influences different from and other than theSelf.
Personal authenticity is exhibited in how a person acts and changes in response to the external world's influences upon the Self. Among artists,authenticity in art describes a work of art faithful to the artist's values.[8] In the field of psychology, authenticity identifies a person living life in accordance with their trueSelf and personal values rather than according to the external demands of society, such associal conventions,kinship, andduty.[9]
To identify, describe, and defineauthenticity, existential philosophers likeKierkegaard,Nietzsche, andMartin Heidegger investigated the existential andontological significance of the social constructs that compose thenorms of society. For a journalist, not blindly accepting social norms contributes to producing intellectually authentic reportage, achieved by the reporter choosing to be true to their professional ethics and personal values. Yet, in the praxis of journalism, the reporter’s authenticity (professional and personal) is continually contradicted by the business requirements of corporate publishing.[10]
According to Kierkegaard, personal authenticity depends upon a person finding an authentic faith and, in so doing, being true to themselves.[clarification needed] Moral compromises inherent to the ideologies of bourgeois society and Christianity challenge the personal integrity of a person who seeks to live an authentic life as determined by the self.[11] A mass-culture society[definition needed] diminishes the significance of personal individuality, by way of social “levelling” through news media that provide people with beliefs and opinions constructed by someone other than themselves. A person can attain authentic faith by facing reality and choosing to live according to the facts of the material world,[dubious –discuss] or can deny authentic faith by passively accepting religious faith.[11] Kierkegaard’s philosophy shows that personal authenticity is a personal choice based upon the experience of the real world;[11] inPractice in Christianity (1850), Kierkegaard wrote:
Therefore, it is a risk to preach, for as I go up into that holy place — whether the church is packed or as good as empty, whether I, myself, am aware of it or not, I have one listener more than can be seen, an invisible listener, God in heaven, whom I certainly cannot see, but who truly can see me.... Truly, it is a risk to preach! Most people, no doubt, have the idea that stepping out on the stage as an actor to venture into the danger of having all eyes focused on one requires courage. Yet, in one sense, this danger, like everything on the stage, is an illusion because the actor, of course, is personally outside it all; his task is precisely to deceive, to dissemble, to represent someone else, and to reproduce, accurately, someone else’s words. On the other hand, the proclaimer of Christian truth steps forward into a place where, even if the eyes of all are not focused on him, the eye of an omniscient one is. His task is: to be himself, and in a setting, God’s house, which, all eyes and ears, requires only one thing of him — that he should be himself, be true. That he should be accurate, that is, that he, himself, should be what he proclaims [to be], or at least strive to be that, or at least be honest enough to confess, about himself, that he is not that.... How risky it is to be theI who preaches, the one speaking, anI who, by preaching and as he preaches, commits himself unconditionally, displays his life so that, if possible, one could look directly into his soul — to be thisI, that is risky!
— Søren Kierkegaard,Practice in Christianity (1850) pp. 234–235
Personal authenticity can be achieved—without religion, which requires accepting pre-determined virtues (eternal valuations) as unquestionably true. In living authentically, a person elevates himself/herself above the mass culture to transcend the limits of conventional morality, thereby personally determining what is and what is notgood and bad, without the pre-determined virtues of conformity “on account of which we hold our grandfathers in esteem”. An authentic life is achieved by avoiding the “herding animal morality”.[12] To “stand alone [is to be] strong and original enough to initiate opposite estimates of value, totransvaluate and invert ‘eternal valuations’”.[12] Common to the existential perspectives of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche are “the responsibilities they place on the individual to take an active part in the shaping of one’s beliefs, and then to be willing to act on that belief”.[11]
It is difficult to describeauthenticity intelligibly. One possibility is to describe instead thenegative space surrounding the condition of beinginauthentic by giving examples.[13] To that end, the novels of Jean-Paul Sartre makeauthenticity conceptually intelligible through the stories ofanti-heroic characters, people who base their actions upon external, psychological pressures — such as thesocial pressure to appear to be a certain kind of person; the pressure to adopt a given way of life; and the pressure to prostitute personal integrity (moral values and aesthetic standards) in exchange for the comfort (physical, mental, and moral) of socialconformity. The novelist Sartre explains existential philosophy through characters who do not understand their reasoning for acting as they do—people who ignore crucial facts about their own lives to avoid learning about being aninauthentic person with an identity defined from outside the self.
Absolute freedom is thevertiginous experience necessary for being authentic, yet such freedom can be so unpleasant as to impel people to choose an inauthentic life. As an aspect of authenticity, absolute freedom determines a person’srelation with the real world, a relation not based upon or determined by a system of values or an ideology. In this manner, authenticity is connected with creativity, and the will to act must be born of the actor. In that vein, Heidegger speaks of absolute freedom asmodes of living determined by personal choice. Sartre identified, described, and explained what is an inauthentic existence, not to define what is an authentic mode of living.[14]
Erich Fromm proposed a very different definition of authenticity in the mid-twentieth century.[15] He considered behavior of any kind, even that wholly in accord with societalmores, to be authentic if it results from personal understanding and approval of its drives and origins, rather than merely from conformity with the received wisdom of the society. Thus, a Frommean authentic may behave consistently in accord with cultural norms, if those norms appear on consideration to be appropriate, rather than simply in the interest of conforming with current norms. Fromm thus considers authenticity to be a positive outcome of enlightened and informed motivation, rather than a negative outcome of rejection of the expectations of others. He described the latter condition – the drive primarily to escape external restraints typified by the "absolute freedom" of Sartre – as "the illusion of individuality",[16] as opposed to the genuine individuality that results from authentic living.
The authenticity paradox describes the difficulty to be authentic in social media environment.[17] Users experience a constant tension between projecting their own personal values and the social expectations to share popular values. Popular values are predominantlycommercial and users often engage in "social media rituals," such as taking countless photos and carefully curating images of their commercial experiences. This process turns genuine personal experiences into a form ofadvertisement, leading to a focus on projecting an image that might be perceived as authentic rather than truly expressing authentic values.
Ultimately, the authenticity paradox highlights the loss of self in a mediated world driven by commercial needs. While people desperately seek authenticity, they struggle to find it because their behavior is often driven by the need to advertise popular brands and gain social recognition. This environment, where existence is increasingly determined by the visibility of information produced, makes individuals fixate on their image, risking the loss of their genuine identities.
Some genres of rock music, especially the subcultures ofpunk andheavy metal, require a great deal of artistic authenticity from its musicians and fans and criticize and exclude musicians, composers, and bands they assess as beingposeurs — insufficientlyauthentic or inauthentic as artists.[5] Aposeur is an artist or a musical band who copies the dress, the style of speech, and themanners of the subculture, yet is excluded for not understanding the artistic philosophy, not understanding the sociology, and not understanding thevalue system of the subculture; talking the talk, without walking the walk.[18]
The authenticity of an artist has three bases: (I) long-term dedication to the music scene; (II) historical knowledge of the subculture; and (III) personal integrity (inner voice) for correct artistic choices.[19] At one extreme of the heavy-metal genre, exists the subgenre ofblack metal whose adherents value above all else, artistic authenticity, emotional sincerity, and extremity of expression. Black metal artists emphatically profess that black metal performances are not for entertainment or spectacle, but rather that the extreme expression of such performances, areritual expression, achieved through transcendence of the body and the self.[20] In light of such systems of moral value in the arts, a working-class band, by accepting a formal recording contract, might appear to besell outs within the heavy metal and punk rock communities.[6] The academicDeena Weinstein said that “The code of authenticity, which is central to theheavy metal subculture, is demonstrated in many ways”, such as by clothing, an emotional singing voice, and thematic substance to the songs.[18]
The philosopherJacob Golomb argues that existential authenticity is a way of life incompatible with a system of moral values that comprehends all persons.[21][further explanation needed]