In the context of socio-philosophical debating, the ideal of personal authenticity has always been overshadowed by the debate on autonomy. This may come as a surprise, as indeed Charles Taylor called authenticity a phenomenon sharing its origins with that of autonomy (Taylor 1989). Although since the 1970s some authors have repeatedly discussed this topic in a differentiated and systematizing way (see Ferrara 1998, 2009; Noetzel 1999; Taylor 1991; Trilling 1972), philosophically the problem of personal authenticity has not been taken up intensively or, most of all, broadly. The great exception in this respect is Heidegger´s concept of “authenticity”[1] which he introduced and discussed in 1927, in his main work Sein und Zeit (Heidegger 2001, §§ 54-66). The topic of authenticity was somewhat significant for an existential philosophy-oriented philosophy of education (see Bolnow 1977; Schaller 1987). But as far as I know the topic does not play any role anymore for the current debate on educational philosophy.

However, by the `communicative turn´ of the social sciences since the 1960s the authenticity ideal becomes popular also in the educational field. By help of humanist psychology, communicative postulations of genuineness make their way into the vocabulary of educational relationships – both at school and outside school, in the theoretical discourse and in everyday practice (see Rogers 1980). In most cases, the therein postulated reference to the self and to the world is based on the unspecified entity of `one´s own´. The latter refers to one´s own life, to the uniqueness of the individual in regard of his/her talents, characteristics and the thus resulting potential. Furthermore, one´s own needs provide a basis for both everyday and fundamental decisions on expressive and performative questions of living or shaping a life. This is argumentatively legitimated by allegedly identified or proven aspects of alienation.

The low complexity interpretation of the authenticity concept or its simplifying application to the unspecified determinants of `one´s own´ and `alienation´ depends most of all on a substantialist way of understanding the subject (see Ferrara 2009; 23-27). Against the background of late-modern subjectivity concepts, however, education efforts of this kind, counting on a quasi-sovereign subject, suffer from paradoxical and even aporetic tensions (see Ferrara 1998, 2009; Meye-Drawe 2000; Taylor 1991). Despite – or precisely because of – their simplicity and sometimes low complexity, the normative power of educational postulates of maintaining or achieving authentical ways of life and communication is unquestioned and has been proven in many ways (see a. o. Noddings 2003; Rogers 1980).

[1] Heidegger´s term “Eigentlichkeit” is frequently translated as “authenticity” (English), “authenticité” (French) or “autenticidad” (Spanish) (see Noetzel 1999: 25).

Bollnow, Otto F. (1977). Existenzphilosophie und Pädagogik. Versuch über unstetige Formen der Erziehung [1959]. Stuttgart. Brinkmann, Malte (2009). Wiederholungen. Zur temporalen Differenz der pädagogischen Übung. In, K. Ber-delmann & Th. Fuhr (Hrsg.), Operative Pädagogik. Grundlegung, Anschlüsse, Diskussion. Paderborn, S. 93-109. Eby, Lilian T., Rhodes, Jean E., & Allen, Tammy D. (2007). Definition and Evolution of Mentoring. In, T. D. Allen, & L. T. Eby (Eds.), The Blackwell Handbook of Mentoring. A Multiple Perspectives Approach. Ox-ford, pp. 7-20 . Ferrara, Alessandro (2009). Authenticity Without a True Self. In, Ph. Vannini & J.P. Williams (Eds.), Authentic-ity in Culture, Self, and Society. Farnham, pp. 21-35. Ferrara, Alessandro (1998). Reflective Authenticity. Rethinking the Project of Modernity. London/New York:. Frankfurt, Harry G. (1988). The Importance of What We Care about. Cambridge. Frost, Ursula (1996). Erziehung durch Vorbilder? In, H. Schmidinger (Hrsg.), Vorbilder. Realität und Illusion. Graz, S. 91-127. Heidegger, Martin (2001). Sein und Zeit [1927]. Tübingen. Hufnagel, Erwin (1993). Pädagogische Vorbildtheorien. Prolegomena zu einer pädagogischen Imagologie. Würzburg. Meyer-Drawe, Käte (2000). Illusionen von Autonomie. Diesseits von Ohnmacht und Allmacht des Ich [1990]. München. Noddings, Nel (2003). Caring – A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Berkeley. Noetzel, Thomas (1999). Authentizität als politisches Problem. Ein Beitrag zur Theoriegeschichte der Legitima-tion politischer Ordnung. Politische Ideen. Herausgegeben von H. Münkler. Berlin. Prange, Klaus (2005). Die Zeigestruktur der Erziehung: Grundriss der Operativen Pädagogik. Paderborn. Reichenbach, Roland (2011). Pädagogische Autorität. Macht und Vertrauen in der Erziehung. Stuttgart. Rogers, Carl R. (1980). A Way of Being. Boston. Schaller, Klaus (1987). Pädagogik der Kommunikation. Annäherungen – Erprobungen. Sankt Augustin. Scheler, Max (2007). Wesen und Formen der Sympathie. Bonn. Taylor, Charles (1989). Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern Identity. Cambridge. Taylor, Charles (1991). The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge. Trilling, Lionel (1972). Sincerity and Authenticity. London.