Against Authenticity

Being true to oneself is a dictum so ubiquitous that it seems like an empty truism. The ideal of authenticity holds, on various construals, that we should aspire to maintain a strong will, to be psychologically independent, to have "integrity," or to be morally conscientious. Against Authenticty: Why You Shouldn't Be Yourself is a philosophical exploration and critique of these claims. Simon Feldman argues that the best lives we can lead may well involve substantial weak will, psychological dependence, deep ambivalence, self-ignorance, as well as moral unconscientiousness. Feldman suggest that the ideal of authenticity presupposes metaphysically confused notions of the self (for example, that there is a determinate "true self") and that under the guise of indisputable wisdom, the ideal perpetuates both objectionably relativistic and reactionary moral thinking. The conclusion is that the ideal of authenticity is one that we would be better off abandoning, independent of other antecedent moral or ethical commitments. With implications for every reader's conception of authenticity and identity, Feldman's book is an exciting challenge for studies of ethics, metaethics, metaphysics, and moral psychology.