Torrey Braman

Phil. 1012 Intro to Philosophy

1/19/11

Dr. Mehring

Am I Authentic?

So you ask what it means to be an authentic individual. By my own opinionated

definition, it simply means that you must be yourself; you must be true to yourself, follow what
you believe to be right, and make decisions in your life that are from your heart. In other words,
you must create your own path and not follow the trends of society.

Here I believe it is very hard to become completely authentic. This is because of the fact
that our whole lives we are taught and filled with so many socially “acceptable” behaviors that
may influence how we make decisions. Now, I am not saying that to be authentic you cannot
“behave” in society. Nor am I saying that it is wrong to that it is wrong (or un-authentic) to take
part in trends and enjoy societal activities. All I am saying is that you must consciously think for
yourself and stand up for yourself in society.

The idea of being authentic may seem unnecessary, after all you may be perfectly content
with the way your life is going now. But, being authentic is important and has many advantages
like feeling confidant in ones self, the ability to make your own decisions, and your appeal to
others would most likely be genuine among others. In a world with so many people who have so
many similarities, your own personal authenticity may be the one thing that lets you stand out
above everyone else.

This subject is tough for me to thoroughly describe, but Socrates does a fantastic job of
fitting my description throughout his life, especially with the events in his death. I would find
Socrates to be very authentic based on his dedication to Philosophy. Throughout his life he made
it his mission to live his life thinking thoroughly through all important ideas. Because others
followed the trends of society and didn’t think for themselves, they found Socrates’ questioning
to be very offensive and sentenced him to death. He had the chance to save his life in court and
conform to societies beliefs, but he was authentic and stood up for his passion of philosophy. He
sacrificed his life for what he believed in which was Philosophy, the art of thinking for yourself.
In my eyes Socrates died assuring others that he was in all ways at the peak of the Authenticity
tower. This is a tad bit extreme; I do not expect people to give up their life to be authentic. But I
do believe that in doing so one would most likely be a truly authentic human being.