Editing Existentialism (section)

=== Authenticity ===
{{main|Authenticity (philosophy)|l1=Authenticity}}

Many noted existentialists consider the theme of authentic existence important. [[Authenticity (philosophy)|Authenticity]] involves the idea that one has to "create oneself" and live in accordance with this self. For an authentic existence, one should act as oneself, not as "one's acts" or as "one's genes" or as any other essence requires. The authentic act is one in accordance with one's freedom. A component of freedom is facticity, but not to the degree that this facticity determines one's transcendent choices (one could then blame one's background for making the choice one made [chosen project, from one's transcendence]). Facticity, in relation to authenticity, involves acting on one's actual values when making a choice (instead of, like Kierkegaard's Aesthete, "choosing" randomly), so that one takes responsibility for the act instead of choosing either-or without allowing the options to have different values.{{sfn|Crowell|2020|loc=2.3 Authenticity}}

In contrast, the inauthentic is the denial to live{{Clarify|reason=Does this mean '[a person's individual] choice to not live in accordance with one's [i.e., their] freedom'? If so, the word 'denial' doesn't seem appropriate. But maybe something else is meant.|date=February 2023}} in accordance with one's freedom. This can take many forms, from pretending choices are meaningless or random, convincing oneself that some form of [[determinism]] is true, or "mimicry" where one acts as "one should".{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

How one "should" act is often determined by an image one has, of how one in such a role (bank manager, lion tamer, sex worker, etc.) acts. In ''Being and Nothingness'', Sartre uses the example of a waiter in "bad faith". He merely takes part in the "act" of being a typical waiter, albeit very convincingly.<ref name="Jean-Paul Sartre 2003">Jean-Paul Sartre, ''Being and Nothingness'', Routledge Classics (2003).</ref> This image usually corresponds to a social norm, but this does not mean that all acting in accordance with social norms is inauthentic. The main point is the attitude one takes to one's own freedom and responsibility and the extent to which one acts in accordance with this freedom.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sartre, Jean Paul: Existentialism {{!}} Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |url=https://iep.utm.edu/sartre-ex/ |access-date=2022-11-10 |language=en-US}}</ref>