ipl-logo

Martin Heidegger Theory Of Authenticity

1513 Words7 Pages

Authenticity characterizes an individual’s behavior to be in accordance with his/her motives and beliefs and also be able to express who he/she really is. (Varga & Guignon, 2014). Authenticity is closely related to self-actualization and individuation. The importance of authenticity is on the rise with the increase in individualism. Following the industrial revolution, urbanization, and socio-cultural changes in the last two centuries, human beings are considered more as individuals rather than insignificant members of large social systems. This altering view towards a society and its members increased the importance of the individual. In this new era, being an individual can be best achieved through being unique and distinctive. Moreover, …show more content…

According to Heidegger, leading an authentic life, exercising the freedom to create a meaningful existence and continually grow is possible and should be sought after. The alternative is living an inauthentic life, that can be summarized as giving up the freedom, accept conventionality, and think of only the present. The relation of authenticity to the well-being of an individual is also hinted in his works in terms of guilt. He suggests that most individuals don't exercise the personal freedom they have, which leads to guilt. (Zimmerman, 1981). This autonomy of an individual indicates his/her ability to decide independently, free from social manipulation. Nietzsche’s thought on authenticity and is also similar to this notion as he denoted that one must “stand alone” and avoid herding behavior if he is to find authenticity (Nietzsche, 2001). Other than Heidegger, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche had their own views of authenticity. Becoming true to oneself, rejecting social dictation, autonomy can be considered the indicators of authenticity summarizing these philosophers’ points of view that draw from existentialist philosophy (Golomb, 1995; Varga & Guignon, …show more content…

This is related to individuals need for counter-conformity (moving away from conformity) which is defined as the establishment of a group opinion norm and the tendency of individuals to comply with that norm (Burnkrant & Cousineau, 1975; Nail, 1986). It was seen that consumers buy and use possessions to develop a personal image that is different from others in the society (Lynn & Harris, 1997; Richins, 1994). This need for being different and unique manifests itself in the search for and the use of unique possessions. The acquisition of unique and scarce products is an on-going process because when scarce products become more available in the market and more people use them, they lose their unique scarcity attribute. Accordingly, uniqueness is related with the scarcity of a product (Snyder, 1992, p. 20; Tian & McKenzie, 2001) and consumers continuously look for other products to differentiate themselves from

Show More
Related

  • Gaping, Gaping Staring By Eli Clare Analysis

    792 Words  | 4 Pages

    Every type of person struggles with a thing we call, identity. Personal identity come from multiple factors from our race to our own personal beliefs. Some people say we have the choice to choose our own identity, but is that always true? No, in fact other people can affect how we look and essentially identity our self’s. In the article called.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Social Location And Identity

    1987 Words  | 8 Pages

    As a person goes through life he or she may wonder “Who am I?” and “What is my purpose?” The objective of this paper is to allow me to reflect and critically analyze who I am as a person. In this paper, I will discuss my social location and identity, my life experiences and my privileges and disadvantages.

    Read More

  • Identity In Shahram Heshmat's A Separate Peace

    2126 Words  | 9 Pages

    The Question of Identity According to Shahram Heshmat, author of “Basics of Identity”, “Identity is concerned largely with the question: “Who are you?” What does it mean to be who you are? Identity relates to our basic values that dictate the choices we make…”. But sometime within every human being’s life, a situation arises where someone is not able to identify themselves, and because of this they can act strangely and sometimes hostile.

    Read More

  • Who Am I Beverly Daniel Tatum Analysis

    759 Words  | 4 Pages

    In academic article “Who Am I” by Beverly Daniel Tatum; she talks about the complexity of identity, which defined as a person. She describes the multiple identities of different kinds of people and their significance in the community. She illustrate the how person past, historical event, family background, experiences, and thought of person has impact on the personal identification. The concept of past, present, and future, those characterize the person identity. She explains how gander of person is the part of identity, which build identity.

    Read More

  • Identity In Elie Wiesel's Loss Of Identity

    1492 Words  | 6 Pages

    “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Emerson suggests that humans are living in a world in which humanity is constantly attempting to change individuals. Society tries to change humans identities, but a human’s identity is what allows them to express themselves and distinguish themselves from others. Human nature is supposed to look, act and think differently, and, when humans are very similar it becomes difficult to interact and get along with others. A time that preserving identity becomes notably challenging is during times of crisis.

    Read More

  • Daniel Tatum The Complexity Of Identity

    683 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity speaks of who we are as individuals but it also comes from two different groups: social and cultural. These groups are connected to power, values and ideology. Social identities are related to how we interact with people and how we present ourselves. Meanwhile cultural identities relate to society in whole such as religion, values, etc. In this paper I will talk about the dominant and subordinate identities.

    Read More

  • Identity Development In The Breakfast Club

    1347 Words  | 6 Pages

    This can be done through a steady set of norms and values, which ultimately influence your identity formation (Klimstra, 2012). Furthermore, Sigelman and Rider (2015), suggest that to achieve a sense of identity, the adolescent needs to incorporate multiple perceptions

    Read More

  • Identity In Gretel Ehrlich's Looking For A Lost Dog

    1036 Words  | 5 Pages

    The environment in which an individual grows up in can affect life greatly. Our surroundings influence one’s personality, self-expression, and individuality, otherwise known as identity. Finding one’s true self is the most grueling stage of life and expectations of family and society make the process even harder. One’s true identity can sometimes clash with hopes of others, thus breaking tradition and/or family ties. Pressure to change will always be present, but staying true to uniqueness will prevail.

    Read More

  • Identity In A Lesson Before Dying

    1276 Words  | 6 Pages

    How others see you is influenced by material, social, and physical constraints. This causes a tension between how much control you have in constructing your own identity and how much control or constraint is exercised over you. How we see ourselves and how others see us differ in many ways, but is an important factor of our identity. “A Lesson Before Dying”,

    Read More

  • Derek Parfit's Theory Of Personal Identity

    1354 Words  | 6 Pages

    Identity is simply all-or nothing. The second belief that he targets regards the importance of personal identity; important matters involving survival, memory and responsibility.

    Read More

  • Materialism In American Society

    1147 Words  | 5 Pages

    Materialism is a problem in American society, everyday people go for the next best thing just to show off their possessions. People show off what they have, and once they get tired of it, they begin to go for the latest, cellular devices, clothing’s, cars etc. According to Tim Kasser, “People develop ideals looking at the lives of their friends, neighbors, co-workers, and relatives” (Kasser52). What he is trying to say is, instead of every person helping each other expand in life, everyone is in rivalry with one another. In order to make an attempt at fixing the American society, making it less materialistic, people must become and think correspondingly of a minimalist.

    Read More

  • Identity In Cormac's The Road

    492 Words  | 2 Pages

    Identity is a distinctive identifier of who we are as individuals. People must learn how to construct their own identities through the actions and choices they make. Sometimes when people are influenced by society or the world around them, their own sense of identity can become unfavorably distorted. As such, it is important for people to stay loyal to themselves in order to cultivate and maintain that strong sense of identity.

    Read More

  • Rene Descartes On Personal Identity

    1801 Words  | 8 Pages

    For many years, the issue of self-identity has been a problem that philosophers and scholars have been to explain using different theories. The question on self –identity tries to explain the concept of how a person today is different from the one in the years to come. In philosophy, the theory of personal identity tries to solve the questions who we are, our existence, and life after death. To understand the concept of self-identity, it is important to analyze a person over a period under given conditions. Despite the numerous theories on personal identity, the paper narrows down the study to the personal theories of John Locke and Rene Descartes, and their points of view on personal identity.

    Read More

  • Self Identity Essay

    885 Words  | 4 Pages

    As I mature, my perspective of life and what it is to be a unique individual is ever changing. I believe that an individual’s environmental and surrounding contributes to their identity greatly. The culture in which one grows up in is a element that shapes one’s beliefs. When I was younger, my friends aided to shape my identity. My peers had a great influence on how I defined myself in early childhood because I deeply valued and cared about what others thought of me.

    Read More

  • Discernment Of Authenticity

    352 Words  | 2 Pages

    Different people have different meaning of the term authenticity, virtue, and discernment. The way I thought about these thoughtful concepts prior to this period of my life was quite different than what I think now. Those thoughtful concepts were just the vocabulary terminologies for me. I was not aware of authenticity as a characteristics attributed to human beings. Everybody wants to live good life and treated well by others, and so do I.

    Read More

More about Martin Heidegger Theory Of Authenticity

Open Document