The term used in existentialism philosophy to describe what it considers the ideal mode of living. It is characterized by high levels of self-awareness, self-direction, and self-reflection. That is to say, someone whose life may be considered authentic is always fully aware of both what they are doing and why they are doing it. Attaining this level of self-knowledge effectively means overcoming the power of the unconscious to compel us to act without fully knowing why, therefore most theorists of authenticity treat it as project, something one aspires to or works towards. In philosophy, Sartre, Jean-Paul and Heidegger, Martin wrote extensively on the problematic authenticity, while Adorno, Theodor attacked it as obfuscating. Outside of philosophy, authenticity has been a topic of interest for both literary studies and Cultural Studies---in the case of the former it generally refers to life in the pre-industrial era (e.g. F. R. *Leavis, Williams, Raymond), while in the latter it is used as a synonym for artistic or cultural production that is âindependentâ or anti-commercial (e.g. âgrungeâ music and Dogme cinema have at different times been claimed as authentic). Further Reading: C. Taylor The Ethics of Authenticity (1992).