On Being Authentic

'To thine own self be true.' From Polonius's advice to Laertes right up to Oprah, we are constantly urged to look within. Why is being authentic the ultimate aim in life for so many people, and why does it mean looking inside rather than out? Is it about finding the 'real' me, or something greater than me, even God? And should we welcome what we find? Thought-provoking and with an astonishing range of references, On Being Authentic is a gripping journey into the self that begins with Socrates and Augustine. Charles Guignon asks why being authentic ceased to mean being part of some bigger, cosmic picture and with Rousseau, Wordsworth and the Romantic movement, took the strong inward turn alive in today's self-help culture. He also plumbs the darker depths of authenticity, with the help of Freud, Joseph Conrad and Alice Miller, before asking whether authenticity can survive at all if the postmodernists are right: is the subject dead? He concludes with a powerful defence of authenticity, arguing that being authentic is having a sincere story to tell about one's life, a story where being authentic is about being with others as much as being oneself.