A Dramaturgical Conception of Authentic Living

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A Dramaturgical Conception of Authentic Living

Sakchatchawan, Chatchaya; (2024) A Dramaturgical Conception of Authentic Living. Masters thesis (M.Phil.Stud), UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Abstract

The philosopher’s task of formulating what authenticity consists in is made complicated when two seemingly conflicting intuitions are considered. On one hand, our liberal intuition suggests that authenticity entails resisting societal influences and acknowledging oneself as the primary source of one’s endeavours. On the other hand, our communitarian intuition suggests that comprehending one’s identity - the source of the authentic person’s endeavours - necessitates reference to one’s relations to others and positions within the pre-existing world-order. Combining the two intuitions, we may infer the puzzle of authenticity: How can we fulfil the demand from authenticity if it requires that we resist interpersonal influences when our understanding of who we are is derived from our interactions and relation to others? The aim of the thesis is to resolve the puzzle of authenticity by arguing for a Kinda Sartrean dramaturgical conception of personal identity (Chapter 1) and authentic living (Chapter 2). Drawing from Sartre’s notion of ambiguity and contemporary ideas prevalent in narrative theory literature, Chapter 1, in dramaturgical terms, gives form to the communitarian idea that identity-work is a dialogical process. Chapter 2 argues that you can be said to live authentically if (i) you engage in identity-work in good faith and (ii) your coactors have the appropriate interpretative framework to make sense of your identity. This implies that living authentically is not solely within an individual’s control; one’s possibility to live authentically, i.e. intelligibly as oneself, is in part dependent on others. Chapter 3 anticipates and tackles the challenge arising from the concept of unmasked authenticity by examining Iris Murdoch’s idea of love as a moral vision that reveals another’s ‘true self.’

Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Qualification:	M.Phil.Stud
Title:	A Dramaturgical Conception of Authentic Living
Open access status:	An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language:	English
Additional information:	Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request.
UCL classification:	UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy
URI:	https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10185017