arcade evo

My apologies for being absent for so long. The joys of tenure, I tell you...

So, I've got an question I'm turning around in my head, and I'd really love the feedback of the community on this. Namely, it's this: What is the real meaning of "authenticity"? And where does "authenticity" lie?

There are a variety of ways in which social theorists, literary writers and thinkers, and scholars of the humanities use the term, and without going through all of them here, I think they pretty much boil down to two perspectives: Either an individual is authentic to themselves, their hopes and dreams, their projects of self-development, or an individual is authentic to a situation, the social context in which they find themselves. (Being sociologically trained, I tend toward the latter. Most of the time.)

I'm wondering if there's really some consensus out there about which version of authenticity is more predominant in the literature; if one or other other versions is more authentic to lived existence; or if this is even the way that one should think of it. So please, give me some feedback.

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