Ebook: Identity, Authenticity, and Humility

Dahlstrom responds to Hamlet's injunction "to thine own self be true" by positing that being ourselves is necessary in order to understand ourselves, which in turn in necessary in order to be true to ourselves. There is, of course no shortage of challenges to such an account of self-understanding and authenticity, he admits. He focuses on three, based respectively on the allegedly fragmentary character of our experiences, ways that society shapes our personal identities, and our fondness for each others' esteem.