Rethinking Sincerity and Authenticity: The Ethics of Theatricality in Kant, Kierkegaard, and Levinas

by Howard Pickett

"This above all: To thine own self be true," is an ideal--or pretense--belonging as much to Hamlet as to the carefully choreographed realms of today's politics and social media. But what if our "true" selves aren't our "best" selves? Instagram's curated portraits of authenticity often betray the paradox of our performative selves: sincerity obliges us to be who we actually are, yet ethics would have us be better.

Drawing on the writings of...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081394015X
• ISBN13: 9780813940151
• Release Date: October 2017
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.5" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher