IB Philosophy 10.9 the Ethics of Authenticity – Charles Taylor Key Definitions

Authenticity is the quality of living in accordance with one’s own genuine self, values, and commitments rather than conforming to external pressures, social conventions, or the expectations of others. In existentialist philosophy (Heidegger, Sartre, Kierkegaard), authenticity involves confronting the anxiety of radical freedom and taking full responsibility for one’s choices and identity.

the moral ideal, articulated by Charles Taylor in The Ethics of Authenticity (1991), that each person has an original way of being human and a moral obligation to discover and live according to that inner voice, rather than conforming to external models imposed by society, convention, or authority.

Charles Taylor's concept of the dialogical self holds that human identity is not formed in isolation but is fundamentally shaped through dialogue with others, including spoken conversation, the language of art and gesture, and the inner dialogue we carry on with those who matter to us.

Existential angst (also called anguish or anxiety) is a profound feeling of dread that arises from awareness of one's own radical freedom, the absence of a predetermined essence, and the inescapable responsibility for creating oneself through one's choices.

Flattening is Taylor's metaphor for how the dominance of instrumental reason reduces the rich landscape of moral life to a flat surface of preferences, all treated as equally arbitrary and none possessing genuine moral authority.

Horizons of meaning are Taylor's term for the broader frameworks of significance (moral, cultural, spiritual, historical) against which our choices and actions become meaningful; without such horizons, even freely chosen actions are reduced to arbitrary preferences that lack genuine moral weight.

in Taylor's analysis, the modern cultural condition in which each person is understood as a unique, self-determining agent with the right to develop their own way of life; Taylor regards individualism as a genuine moral achievement that has simultaneously produced dangerous distortions when severed from horizons of meaning and dialogical engagement.

Instrumental reason is the form of rationality concerned exclusively with finding the most efficient means to achieve a given end, without questioning the value or worthiness of the end itself. Taylor identifies it as one of the three malaises of modernity, alongside individualism and the loss of civic freedom.

Intrinsic value is the worth that something possesses in itself, independent of its usefulness to anyone or anything else. Contrasted with extrinsic (instrumental) value, which depends on serving as a means to a further end, it is central to debates about whether nature deserves protection for its own sake.

In Sources of the Self (1989), Charles Taylor uses moral sources to describe the deeper frameworks, ideals, and commitments that empower individuals to live morally and give them the strength to pursue the good, whether through theistic faith, Enlightenment reason, or Romantic expressivism.

Participatory democracy is a model of democracy that emphasises active citizen engagement in political deliberation and decision-making, going beyond the mere periodic election of representatives to include ongoing participation in public forums, community organisations, and civic institutions.

the demand, articulated by Taylor in his essay "The Politics of Recognition" (1992), that social and political institutions acknowledge and respect the distinct identities of individuals and groups, based on the claim that misrecognition or non-recognition inflicts real harm by distorting the self-understanding of those who are denied adequate recognition.

Self-consciousness is the capacity of a being to be aware of itself as an existing subject, to reflect on its own thoughts and experiences, and to recognize itself as distinct from its surroundings and other beings.

Soft despotism, a concept articulated by Tocqueville and echoed in Taylor's work, describes a form of government that, while not overtly tyrannical, infantilises citizens by managing every detail of their lives. Lao Tzu's critique of interventionist governance anticipates this concern by arguing that excessive government control produces dependence rather than flourishing.

For Taylor, soft relativism is the widespread modern belief that each person's values and choices are equally valid simply because they are freely chosen, making it illegitimate to criticize another person's lifestyle or moral commitments on any substantive grounds.

Strong evaluation is Taylor's concept of a form of self-reflection in which we assess our desires not merely by their intensity but by their qualitative worth, distinguishing between higher and lower motivations through reference to moral frameworks that transcend subjective preference.