One of the things I try to be careful of, as a rationalist, is to note when the “standard definitions” are importing connotations that go beyond the textual meaning of the word. In this case, like Said Achmiz, I’ve noticed that “authentic” and “authenticity” are often used as applause lights, serving to engender vaguely positive feelings in the mind of the person reading the text, without actually adding any data or predictions.
Specifically, I’m pointing at the following paragraph:
Why should “that which can be destroyed by the truth” be destroyed? Because the truth is fundamentally more real and valuable than what it replaces, which must be implemented on a deeper level than “what my current beliefs think.” Similarly, why should “that which can be destroyed by authenticity” be destroyed? Because authenticity is fundamentally more real and valuable than what it replaces, which must be implemented on a deeper level than “what my current beliefs think.” I don’t mean to pitch ‘radical honesty’ here, or other sorts of excessive openness; authentic relationships include distance and walls and politeness and flexible preferences.
What are “authentic” and “authenticity” doing here? It seems to me that they could easily be replaced by “healthy” and “health”. And if they were, I think it would be entirely justified for someone less familiar with the context to ask what that word means to the person writing here.
So let me put it plainly: what is an “authentic” relationship? How does one distinguish an authentic relationship from an inauthentic one? The text clearly states that an authentic relationship can still include “distance and walls and politeness and flexible preferences”. So given that inauthentic relationships can also be characterized as including those very same elements, what sorts of distances, walls, politeness and flexible preferences distinguish an authentic relationship from an inauthentic one?
I think this is a great comment (I strong-upvoted it), and is exactly the type of comment that I wish Said would make, instead of the ones he tends to make. It includes concrete pointers to why the term used appears to be inadequate, it suggests some plausible interpretations of the term as synonymous with “health” and then correctly points out problems with the text, if that interpretation is correct. It then also asks some concrete follow-up questions that Vaniver can engage with to help people more clearly understand what he is pointing at, and that you highlighted as potentially clarifying.
I think from the perspective of an author, I am glad to get a comment like this, and I expect the resulting thread to be much better than if the author had tried to respond to Said’s original comment.
One of the things I try to be careful of, as a rationalist, is to note when the “standard definitions” are importing connotations that go beyond the textual meaning of the word. In this case, like Said Achmiz, I’ve noticed that “authentic” and “authenticity” are often used as applause lights, serving to engender vaguely positive feelings in the mind of the person reading the text, without actually adding any data or predictions.
Specifically, I’m pointing at the following paragraph:
What are “authentic” and “authenticity” doing here? It seems to me that they could easily be replaced by “healthy” and “health”. And if they were, I think it would be entirely justified for someone less familiar with the context to ask what that word means to the person writing here.
So let me put it plainly: what is an “authentic” relationship? How does one distinguish an authentic relationship from an inauthentic one? The text clearly states that an authentic relationship can still include “distance and walls and politeness and flexible preferences”. So given that inauthentic relationships can also be characterized as including those very same elements, what sorts of distances, walls, politeness and flexible preferences distinguish an authentic relationship from an inauthentic one?
I think this is a great comment (I strong-upvoted it), and is exactly the type of comment that I wish Said would make, instead of the ones he tends to make. It includes concrete pointers to why the term used appears to be inadequate, it suggests some plausible interpretations of the term as synonymous with “health” and then correctly points out problems with the text, if that interpretation is correct. It then also asks some concrete follow-up questions that Vaniver can engage with to help people more clearly understand what he is pointing at, and that you highlighted as potentially clarifying.
I think from the perspective of an author, I am glad to get a comment like this, and I expect the resulting thread to be much better than if the author had tried to respond to Said’s original comment.