[lbo-talk] "The Authentic"? was ....Grappling....

ravi gadfly at exitleft.org
Tue May 16 12:47:17 PDT 2006


At around 16/5/06 3:24 pm, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> ravi wrote:
>> describes exactly what is
>> "authentic" (in the world, if you will)
>
> Could you explain why (independently of what any particular philosopher
> has to say) "authenticity" is a useful concept. I've seen it invoked
> many times, and I've never really seen what was gained by invoking it.
>

But it is exactly the idea that "authenticity is a useful concept" that is the matter of philosophical tomes. I doubt I will do any better justice to it, in an email message, than what many have taken great trouble to do.

However, in the above usage of the term by me, it suffices to fall back the general meaning/usage of the term, to mean: that which is not shallow, and that which adheres to or is aimed at achieving the defined agenda/goal/programme. The contrast in my example being David Attenborough's style of respectful engagement with nature as opposed to the clinical analysis of theorists. However, I do not intend to go as far as "There is more things in heaven and earth...".

--ravi

-- Support something better than yourself: ;-) PeTA: http://www.peta.org/ GreenPeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list