Episode #239 ... Authenticity and the history of the self. (Charles Taylor)

Stephen West· Host0:00

Hello everyone. I'm Stephen West. This is Philosophize This!. Patreon.com/philosophizethis. Philosophical writing on Substack at Philosophize This on there. I hope you love the show today. So the philosopher Charles Taylor once said that authenticity is the moral ideal of the modern world. And we all kinda know what he means when he says that 'cause we can just look around us and listen to what a lot of people say in the modern world. "Be yourself," they say, which means, first of all, find out who you are deep down inside of you, then figure out what kind of person you wanna be, and then find a way to express yourself out there in the world in an authentic way, whatever that is. Could be a bumper sticker on your car, you know, really let people know who you are and, and the kinda things you and your car care about. Could be just you speaking your mind and making sure that what you say is a true reflection of you. Definitely don't wanna be saying stuff just 'cause someone else gave you the idea. People say these things about how important it is to be authentic, and it's often seen as wisdom about life. They'll even post these things on social media, and people will like it. In fact, whether or not someone's an authentic person is how a lot of people determine whether or not someone's a good person. Again, authenticity becomes the moral ideal of the modern world. But why are there so many other people out there who will say that thinking like this is just a poorly disguised brand of narcissism that pollutes how modern people see themselves? Why do people like Byung-Chul Han say that authenticity, as most experience it these days, is just a neoliberal sales pitch designed to get you hyper-focused