1 Authenticity and Self-Knowledge

ABSTRACT: We argue that the value of authenticity does not explain the value of self-knowledge. There are a plurality of species of authenticity; in this paper we consider four species: avoiding pretense (§2), Frankfurtian wholeheartedness (§3), existential self-knowledge (§4), and spontaneity (§4). Our thesis is that, for each of these species, the value of (that species of) authenticity does not (partially) explain the value of self-knowledge. Moreover, when it comes to spontaneity, the value of (that species of) authenticity conflicts with the value of self-knowledge. A contemporary slogan, a favorite of self-help gurus, enjoins you to “be yourself,” implying the value of authenticity. The Delphic motto, a favorite of philosophers, enjoins you to “know thyself, ” implying the value of self-knowledge. What is the relationship between the value of authenticity and the value of self-knowledge? Can the value of one explain the value of the other? “Authenticity ” is ambiguous in a variety of ways: representations are said to be authentic when they are accurate, cuisines are said to be authentic when they resemble some paradigm, and people are said to be authentic when they are “true to themselves. ” It is this personal sense of “authentic ” with which we are concerned here. There has recently been renewed interest in the value of knowledge and in the sources o