Authenticity and self-governance
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Monika Betzler
Abstract
According to a common intuition, a person is self-governed only if she acts for reasons grounded in her authentic self. Authenticity is thus thought to be a necessary condition of self-governance. My aim in this paper is to examine what understanding of authenticity might serve to account for a person’s governing herself. Current theorizing focuses either on an internalist or an externalist account of authenticity. Internalists specify a mental attitude or web of attitudes that is supposed to represent a person’s authentic self. Externalists resort to evaluative facts about the person as they are typically picked out from a third-person point of view. Neither of these proposals, however, provides sufficient reasons for self-governance in light of internal or external change. A concept of authenticity that does not acknowledge changes in a person’s evaluative outlook over the course of her life, or changes in her environment that affect her evaluative outlook, can hardly provide the resources needed to account for a person’s self-governance. To remain authentic, or to become authentic, a person must have the capacity to respond to changes and re-integrate or reshape her evaluative outlook. As I will argue, emotions play an important functional role in that they express when a person should respond to change. Emotions generate reasons to revise our valuing, and transform our self-conception so as to preserve or regain authenticity.
Abstract
According to a common intuition, a person is self-governed only if she acts for reasons grounded in her authentic self. Authenticity is thus thought to be a necessary condition of self-governance. My aim in this paper is to examine what understanding of authenticity might serve to account for a person’s governing herself. Current theorizing focuses either on an internalist or an externalist account of authenticity. Internalists specify a mental attitude or web of attitudes that is supposed to represent a person’s authentic self. Externalists resort to evaluative facts about the person as they are typically picked out from a third-person point of view. Neither of these proposals, however, provides sufficient reasons for self-governance in light of internal or external change. A concept of authenticity that does not acknowledge changes in a person’s evaluative outlook over the course of her life, or changes in her environment that affect her evaluative outlook, can hardly provide the resources needed to account for a person’s self-governance. To remain authentic, or to become authentic, a person must have the capacity to respond to changes and re-integrate or reshape her evaluative outlook. As I will argue, emotions play an important functional role in that they express when a person should respond to change. Emotions generate reasons to revise our valuing, and transform our self-conception so as to preserve or regain authenticity.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Authenticity, emotions, and the self
- Self-love and the structure of personal values 11
- The self of shame 33
- Authenticity and self-governance 51
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Part II. Ramifications of emotional authenticity
- Picturing the authenticity of emotions 71
- Status, gender, and the politics of emotional authenticity 91
- How to be “emotional”? 113
- Authenticity and occupational emotions 133
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Part III. Emotional authenticity in ethics and moral psychology
- Is emotivism more authentic than cognitivism? 155
- Emotional authenticity as a central basis of moral psychology 179
- Authentic emotions as ethical guides? 195
- Emotional optimality and moral force 215
- Index 235
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Authenticity, emotions, and the self
- Self-love and the structure of personal values 11
- The self of shame 33
- Authenticity and self-governance 51
-
Part II. Ramifications of emotional authenticity
- Picturing the authenticity of emotions 71
- Status, gender, and the politics of emotional authenticity 91
- How to be “emotional”? 113
- Authenticity and occupational emotions 133
-
Part III. Emotional authenticity in ethics and moral psychology
- Is emotivism more authentic than cognitivism? 155
- Emotional authenticity as a central basis of moral psychology 179
- Authentic emotions as ethical guides? 195
- Emotional optimality and moral force 215
- Index 235
