Living with Community: An Exploration of Authenticity and Sincerity

Authenticity and sincerity are philosophical ideals that govern how one ought to live and view themselves within society. Authenticity, the more dominant philosophy in modern times, is the idea that we must decide for ourselves how we will be true to ourselves; it is a decision that is both intentional and contained in our own nature. We are someone, and we must look inwards to realize that someone in full, rather than look outwards to other people or cultures for reference. The sincere individual accepts the role that society has allowed them and attempts to fulfill that role well and find their own identity within that role. Even if society seems to be acting against the interest of the sincere individual, they are still expected to fulfill their duty in service of the group. This paper brings to light some of the unintended consequences of modern authenticity, specifically looking at Charles Taylor’s The Ethics of Authenticity and attempts to show how a change in how we view authenticity needs to occur in light of sincerity and other important ideologies. The paper gives an in depth look at the history of both authenticity and sincerity, then discusses the application of these philosophies (e.g. media, problematic advertisements, and political impacts), and finally moves to how definitions and perspectives need to change to compensate for the shortcomings of modern authenticity.

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