Over the past two decades, the concept of authenticity has been the subject of considerable disagreement and debate. Although there have been attempts at reconciling various existing approaches, the literature is still short on a definition that is both practical and precise. This article proposes to make significant headway to that effect by suggesting that authenticity can be accounted for by an underlying psychological phenomenon known as essentialism. In making our case, we first provide an overview of present-day objectivist and constructivist positions and point out their shortcomings, after which we introduce an essentialist account of authenticity. We then argue essentialism has profound benefits over contemporary views and might be the best overarching framework we have, if we intend to reach consensus on the meaning of authenticity.

中文翻译：

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从希特勒的毛衣到恐龙化石：关于真实性的本质主义观点

在过去的二十年中，真实性的概念一直是引起很大争议和争论的主题。尽管已经尝试调和各种现有方法，但是文献仍然缺乏实用且精确的定义。本文建议通过暗示一种可以被称为本质主义的潜在心理现象来解释真实性，从而取得显着进展。在进行论证时，我们首先概述当今客观主义和建构主义的立场，并指出它们的缺点，然后介绍对真实性的本质主义论述。然后，我们认为本质主义比当代观点具有深远的好处，如果我们打算就真实性的含义达成共识，那么本质主义可能是我们拥有的最好的总体框架。