The authenticity of lost expectations – the extinction of certain moral ideal in postmodern mass society

This paper considers the currency of the ideal of authenticity and its ethics. This issue is connected with various aspects of subjectivity, identity, ego, autonomy, individualism, etc. Each of these notions is defined in many different ways and each is considerated in relation to various theories, which, in turn, creates many theoretical problems areas with numerous intricacies. This paper does not aim at mentioning all of them, let alone presenting them in greater detail. It is to show some hidden presuppositions of the ideal of authenticity, to unveil the political ambiguity and even the paradoxical nature of this seemingly unquestionable ideal, especially in the contemporary intellectual and cultural context.