Authenticity in my own words is being genuine. In Thomas Flynn’s, “Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction,” he discusses the themes of Bad-Faith, Authenticity, and the supposed moral imperative to becoming an authentic individual. In the following essay, I will discuss the following: the forms of bad-faith, what does it mean to be authentic, why I aspire to be authentic, and last, but not the least why being inauthentic has changed my life forever. According to Sartre, there are two forms of bad faith. Sartre calls the “faith” of bad faith because it reveals his high standard for what constitutes as evidence and it provide the key to bad faith as the choice to be satisfied with non-persuasive evidence. Sartre’s thesis says the belief is …show more content…
In fact, existential individuality and authenticity seem to imply one another. One is no more born as individual than is one born authentic. To be truly authentic you have realize one’s individuality and vice versa. If a person avoids choice, then that person has failed to become authentic. So, we can describe that person who live his or her life as, “they command or expect as being inauthentic” (74). Sartre believes that fundamental choice is the unifying meaning and direction of our lives. In this fundamental sense, choice is pre-reflective, “it’s what we are not just what we do” (76). It’s our supposed moral imperative to becoming an authentic individual. Sartre valued human freedom and choice, and held it in the highest regard. Becoming authentic is an individual mission, since each person has their own way of being human, and consequently what is authentic will be different for each individual. In the books it states, “Freedom constitutes the ultimate value for the existentialists just as authenticity is their primary virtue” (79). Freedom is the concrete sense that means the pursuit of the “open future of others, that is, the maximization of their possibilities as well as my own” (80). Freedom wills itself authentically only by willing itself as an indefinite movement through the freedom of others. One of the general characteristics to become an authentic individual is we have something to be pursued as a goal intrinsic to the good life. We succumb to social pressures to live inauthentically and because of this we need to live authentically. To live authentically we have worry only about ourselves and no one else. We shouldn’t care about anyone’s opinion on how we think we should be life, the only opinion you should listen to is yourself. That way, one can get freedom and live as an authentic
So I believe that Sartre prepares the best argument out of Darwin and Freud to explain the choosing of our paths in life. As Freud applies that child develop is chosen and Darwin thinks it was a process of natural selection, we are in fact the result of choices both of others and ourselves to make the actions and effects that we create society. We are all are not to blame higher power for choosing of accountability when we negatively affect others. In lacking of the higher power that no other source can value to the other our own actions. From Sartre’s argument, it is obvious that we are giving the freedom to choose our purpose in life and that we presented with free will in all the situations.
Bad faith is pretending that we are not free and responsible for what we are and do, when in fact we know that we are. It is also pretending that we are causally determined as inanimate things are, and that therefore we have no freedom and are not responsible for our lives, as victims of circumstances. To have a truly authentic existence, Sartre dictates that we live according to our own beliefs, that we insert meaning into the acts that we do, not finding meaning from what other people say. We should no live in regard to what other people think or say, because this would also push us into bad faith.
Guignon, B. C. and Pereboom, D. (eds). (2001). Existentialism: Basic Writings. Indianapolis, IN: Hacket Publishing.
“It is better to encounter your existence in disgust, then never to encounter it at all.” What Sartre is saying is that it is better to determine who you are in dissatisfaction, rather than never truly discovering yourself. Sartre’s worst fear in life would be to realize that you have never truly lived. For example, if you were to land a career that you were not interested in and you were just going through the motions of everyday life, Sartre would say that life was not a life worth living. Sartre’s goal in life was to reach the ultimate level; he said life was “Nausea” , because we are always trying to reach the next level, we are always in motion. Sartre had two theories that determine our way of life, Being-In-Itself and Being-For-Itself. Being-In-Itself is the ultimate level, if you reach this level you have fulfilled yourself completely, you have lived your life to the fullest. Being-For-Itself is where we as human beings are, we are always trying to work to become perfect. Our goal in life is to find an authentic existence, and we get there by saying no. Sartre’s philosophy of freedom is obtained by saying no, when we say no we are giving ourselves the option of what we do in our life. By saying no, we receive freedom of our life. “You should say no about every belief if there is a doubt about it.” Sartre also says our human existence is always in
...ar idea with Stephen; they both wanted to do anything and create their own human nature, and our value of freedom through those free choices. Generally, Sartre suggested that men have freedom to construct their nature and essence through their actions.
Jean-Paul Sartre claims that there can be no human nature, or essence, without a God to conceive of it. This claim leads Sartre to formulate the idea of radical freedom, which is the idea that man exists before he can be defined by any concept and is afterwards solely defined by his choices. Sartre presupposes this radical freedom as a fact but fails to address what is necessary to possess the type of freedom which would allow man to define himself. If it can be established that this freedom and the ability to make choices is contingent upon something else, then freedom cannot be the starting point from which man defines himself. This leaves open the possibility of an essence that is not necessarily dependent upon a God to conceive it. Several inconsistencies in Sartre’s philosophy undermine the plausibility of his concept of human nature. The type of freedom essential for the ability to define oneself is in fact contingent upon something else. It is contingent upon community, and the capacity for empathy, autonomy, rationality, and responsibility.
Existentialism, which spread rapidly over continental Europe after the First World War, is essentially the analysis of the condition of man, of the particular state of being free, and of man's having constantly to use his freedom in order top answer the ever- changing and unexpected challenges of the day. According to the Existentialists, the starting point of every philosophical investigation is concrete human existence. That means that human personality in itself should point the way to the absolute value of reality. A single definition of existentialism is impossible. Definitions, provided by dictionaries are only part of what existentialism is about. …central to each definition is the assertion that existentialism is a theory or statement about the nature of man's existence. (1) The term is so difficult to define because, unlike other terms, existentialism is not universal. In other words, there are no two existentialists, which share exactly the same values or beliefs. Although, here is one major theme: a stress on individual existence, subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice.
“We are left alone, without excuse. This is what I mean when I say that man is condemned to be free” (Sartre 32). Radical freedom and responsibility is the central notion of Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy. However, Sartre himself raises objections about his philosophy, but he overcomes these obvious objections. In this paper I will argue that man creates their own essence through their choices and that our values and choices are important because they allow man to be free and create their own existence. I will first do this by explaining Jean-Paul Sartre’s quote, then by thoroughly stating Sartre’s theory, and then by opposing objections raised against Sartre’s theory.
Ross, Kelly L. "Existentialism." The Proceedings of the Friesian School, Fourth Series. Kelly L. Ross, Ph.D., 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
...ating Sartre's attitudes towards the constituents of human action, that which constitutes human being. Even though it may, in the final analysis, prove to be an unsatisfactory account of consciousness, it serves to illuminate some possible further lines of study, if only as a negative example.
This theory believes that the authentic individual is one who has found an equal balance of all three levels of existence. The authentic being is not concerned with the opinion and judgments of others; they have decided to show all assets of themselves and accept themselves as is, rather then bargain a piece of their authenticity for the preference of
Freedom, a seven lettered word that varies in meaning for every individual. Freedom is the basis of human rights, without the freedom to do as one please, one feels confine. This confinement leads to many interesting tales of human curiosity expanding and exploring, such as Leonardo DiCaprio fascination with corpses or the escaping of where freedom is not a necessity such as North Korea. There are many aspects to freedom, it is reflected in actions, decisions and thought. In existentialism, one’s philosophical approach is that one is free and is the deciding factor of everything that they choose in their life. In existentialism since one has ultimate freedom in everything, without any authority deciding for them, this vast array of thought that can come for anyone from anywhere creates hell for others, because one is unable to control others.
In affirmative culture and authenticity. the individual learns to love his isolation; factual isolation is sublimated into metaphysical isolation and inner abundance substitutes for physical hardship.45 Affirmative culture prides itself by inner fulfilment in the place of outer limitations, the soul becomes the last area of refuge from attack.46 Since authenticity requires a facticity in which an entirely free self is contrasted with an entirely dynamic world, it encapsulates this inner freedom perfectly.47 Authenticity perfectly demonstrates the value of individualistic withdrawal against the reifying forces of civilization; it does not matter what occurs externally, as long as one's internal choices are "authentic". Every authentic individual exists without material or spiritual limitations; this is exactly what affirmative culture demands.48 Through it's withdrawal, authenticity encapsulates affirmative
As well, he defined freedom as we are free to make our own choices, but we are condemned to always bear the responsibility of the consequences of these choices. We are in this world helpless, without any creator who forced us to make our own choices and to bear their consequences. Sartre also claims that as an individual we are not free to be free since we are condemned to be free. Sartre claims that God is dead and there is no one who none command us. Sartre affirmed that all the way of life , we should find significance in our being . We are responsible for our own lives and the way we live it does define who we are. Sartre uses the main idea of existentialism as "existence precedes essence," he says that we have the choice in everything we do. Our "essence" is not something that is established before us, we should it by ourselves. His philosophy is that human beings exist first, and then can own a freedom that he decided who he wants to become.
Authenticity is living out one’s life to their full capacity for moral thought and development. While being inauthentic means not living a full human capacity because you are selfish, lazy, irresponsible, scared, or ignorant. An example of being authentic versus inauthentic is the Allegory Cave written by Plato. In the story a group of people live in a dark cave with no light and one of the individuals becomes curious to a bright shining thing, which was the light outside of the cave. No one from the group has ever been outside of the cave yet this one individual was curious to what was the light and where it was coming from. The individual then went outside the cave and saw colors, animals, and nature. After experiencing the world outside of the cave he then went back to the cave to explain to the rest of the group that they do not have to live in a dark cave but can venture beyond the cave and explore more of the world. Scared and ignorant the rest of the group ignored him and did not believe him or they were too scared to believe him. This example of the group being inauthentic because they were afraid what was beyond the cave they were so used to and wanted to stay in their safe bubble where they know nothing will happen to them. While the individual who was authentic questioned what was beyond did venture out and reflected something different he never thought he would