Authenticity as an Ethical Ideal: 33 (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy) - Hardcover

Varga, Somogy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415895332 ISBN 13: 9780415895330

Publisher: Routledge, 2011

Synopsis

Authenticity has become a widespread ethical ideal that represents a way of dealing with normative gaps in contemporary life. This ideal suggests that one should be true to oneself and lead a life expressive of what one takes oneself to be. However, many contemporary thinkers have pointed out that the ideal of authenticity has increasingly turned into a kind of aestheticism and egoistic self-indulgence. In his book, Varga systematically constructs a critical concept of authenticity that takes into account the reciprocal shaping of capitalism and the ideal of authenticity. Drawing on different traditions in critical social theory, moral philosophy and phenomenology, Varga builds a concept of authenticity that can make intelligible various problematic and potentially exhausting practices of the self.

About this title

About the Author

Somogy Varga is a Visiting Researcher at the University of Copenhagen. He is also a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabruck, Germany. 

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415895332
• ISBN 13: 9780415895330
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 198