Kirk: Because the needs of the one... outweigh the needs of the many.
This last quote from Capitan Kirk in Star Trek III, the movie, is what existentialists call authenticity. It is the idea that man has to act for himself, understand what his individual thoughts are, and take responsibility for one’s own actions.
Wartenberg shows that the members of a society are so ingrained in a society, that a type of self-denial of individual needs becomes an integrated programming of our mind’s, to the point we no longer realize we have adopted the groups ideals, over our individual ideals.
In psychology back in high school in the 1970’s I remember an example of association being given. In the example a young woman sees a pair of very ugly green pants on a male mannequin in a store. Her dislike of its style and color was very evident from a picture of her face showing an almost horror looking glance at the mannequin. Later she arrives for a date with a man she is totally in love with. When he answers the door, he is wearing the green pants that horrified her earlier at the mall. Her feelings change, and her brain rationalizes towards the pants, because of the affection she has for her date. She now thinks the pants are good looking.
This same type of phenomenon is what Existentialists see in the herd mentality of the common man. They believe this leads to people not being authentic, and in most cases the rationalization that occurs to be liked or a member of the heard, replaces the individuals thoughts so completely that they no longer realize what their own thoughts and needs are:
“There are a variety of routes that allow a person
to discover the possibility of authenticity, according
to the Existentialists, and each results in the emergence
of a self other than the alienated self of social conformism.”
(Wartenberg, p128)
Authenticity is when we can get by this social programming of the herd, and do individual acts for ourselves. When we can clearly hear in our minds what we individually think, and act accordingly…placing the needs of the one, above the conforming force of the herd, the many.
REFERENCES
Wartenberg, Thomas, Existentialism, (2011), One World, Oxford, England