Philosophy Café – Authenticity: what is it to be oneself?

03/14/12 • 34 min

The anxiety that we are, in some way, not being ourselves can seem both puzzling and all too familiar. This worry is also an anxiety that has been explored by many of the great philosophers and became in the twentieth century a central theme in existentialism, as the worry that our lives are 'inauthentic'. But what is authenticity? What is to be oneself? And if one isn't oneself, what can one do about it? Dr Denis McManus has addressed these issues at the University of Southampton's Philosophy cafe.

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Philosophy Cafe - External World Scepticism, or What If You're In The Matrix? by Dr Conor McHugh

In the film 'The Matrix', the main character discovers that his life is an illusion - all of his experiences have come from a perfect computer simulation fed into his brain. This is a modern version of thought-experiments employed by philosophers for hundreds of years. Dr Conor McHugh discussed whether the seeming fact that we can't tell that we're not in the Matrix shows that we don't know anything about the world around us in this session of the Philosophy cafe? He also posed the question - if you 'are' in the Matrix, exactly what difference does it make? You can listen to a podcast of the talk in the right hand section of this page. Philosophers at the University of Southampton give regular talks at the Philosophy Café, held at the John Hansard Gallery, as part of the Humanities Lifelong Learning programme. These highly successful free events provide food for thought in a relaxed atmosphere for like-minded individuals - no previous philosophical experience is necessary. To find out more about forthcoming Philosophy Cafes please visit the Humanities Lifelong Learning website.

Next Episode

Philosophy Café – Free will: a necessary illusion?

Subjectively we view ourselves as in control of most of our actions, and we think that other people are largely responsible for theirs. But objectively, we can see that what we do is caused by many events and circumstances stretching back into the past, which has suggested to some people that free will is an illusion. Which view should win out? Or is there no real conflict between them? Professor Chris Janaway discussed these issues at the latest session of the Philosophy Cafe.