Thursday, March 13, 2008

Identiy and Authenticity (class discussion)

This was clearly a crisis in how one describes authenticity. We discussed in class how one has to be authentic to ones identity otherwise he is not being authentic. I disagree with this because I don't think that you can always be authentic to all aspects of your authenticity. There are certain parts of identity that you can control and certain parts that you cannot (heritage, race, sexuality). Using Redl as an example, he believed in the Monarchy and wanted to do what was best for the monarchy, yet the monarchy did not like jews. So, either he was authentic to his militarian identity and followed what the monarchy wanted him to do and continually followed his beliefs, and betrayed his religion and sexuality. Or, he is authentic to his sexuality and religion and no longer follows the monarchy. This is indeed a crisis. I think that someone can be authentic without taking in account his identity, it is more how they are consistent and follow what they believe all the time.

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