AUTENTICITATE, SINCERITATE, MODERNITATE
Authenticity, Sincerity, Modernity

Summary/Abstract: The focus of my paper is the distinctionbetween two related, but fundamentally different ethical ideals, namely authenticity andsincerity. These two ideals could be summed up by the aspiration of being true tooneself, and yet such an ambition takes two very different, and even opposing paths inthe modern ethical thought. The strategy of my paper is to highlight two separated typesof distinctions between sincerity and authenticity: one conceptual and the other historical. Inthe first part, I will emphasize some intuitive and basic differences between the twoideals. In the second part, following some of Lionel Trilling’s suggestions, I will showhow the early modern ethic of sincerity differs from the Romantic ethic of authenticity.Both strategies will reveal that while sincerity is a socially oriented virtue, authenticityis an individually centered one. The former functions an instrument of preserving theprevailing moral order, while the latter has a highly polemical dimension, thus functioning asa means of challenging social conventions.

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