The Concept of Authenticity in Philosophy of Sartre and Implications for Using Internet as Educational Technology

Abstract

The aim of this article is explaining authenticity in Sartre philosophy and it's relation to internet as an educational technology. Initially, using deceptive and analytic method, the authenticity has been explained in Sartre philosophy. Sartre. He believed that authenticity mean being honest to yourself, having freedom, take responsibility of freedom and respect other's freedom. In analyzing these conceptions in relation to Internet, the authors can say Internet enhances ability of choosing and freedom. On the other hand, because of lacing face to face communication and being anonymous on the Internet, it will result to decreasing responsibility and commitment. Existence anguish that is believed to be a positive quality in Sartre's view, can motivate thought and action.

Headnote

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is explaining authenticity in Sartre philosophy and it's relation to internet as an educational technology. Initially, using deceptive and analytic method, the authenticity has been explained in Sartre philosophy. Sartre. He believed that authenticity mean being honest to yourself, having freedom, take responsibility of freedom and respect other's freedom. In analyzing these conceptions in relation to internet, we can say internet enhances ability of choosing and freedom. On the other hand because of lacing face to face communication and being anonymous on the internet, it will result to decreasing responsibility and commitment. Existence anguish that is believed to be a positive quality in Sartre's view, can motivate thought and action.

Keywords - authenticity, education, educational technology, internet, Sartre

Date of Submission: July 21, 2015 Date of Acceptance: Sep 04, 2015

1. INTRODUCTION

Authenticity literally implies the concepts such as credibility, accuracy, and validity. Bialystok ]1[ believes that this term primarily implies "original" which means being with a historical existence. On the second level, the word authenticity implies "real" as the opposite of the concepts such as artificial. That is when something is called as "authentic"; it is originated from the supposedly original source. In other words, authenticity means having certain and specific source. On the third level, authenticity is defined with personal identity where authentic means honest, sincere, and consistent. In this sense, authentic implies homogeneity between what has the being and what claims to have the being.

The existentialist philosophers and thinkers have, both directly and indirectly, discussed about authenticity as one of the current and conventional concepts in the existentialist philosophy. Seemingly, drawing a picture of authentic human being for living in the modern society has been one of the main concerns for these thinkers. These philosophers specifically address the social life and the interactions among human beings and believe that each human being maintains an individual and unique existence and is responsible for flourishing and developing this existence. The forces and effects received from the public distance human being from the individual existence and being and misguide him so that he might seek his individual existence merely in public form.

The fundamental point that these philosophers and thinkers raise is that the influences received from the public is far wary from the human individuality and misleads him toward conformity ]2[. In other words, for being individual the human being needs to search and find the true way for him by thinking and studying regardless of the suggestions and recommendations offered by others.

These philosophers have coined and employed a variety of concepts and terms for describing the human being who is affected by public or within the public borders and is considered as inauthentic human being. However, it is worth mentioning that most of the existentialist philosophers have employed the opposite concepts of authenticity in order to clarify this concept. For instance, "Dasman" by Heidegger ]3[, "mass man" by Jaspers ]4[, and "bad faith" by Sartre are examples which indicate the attempts to define and explain the concept of authenticity. In fact, these philosophers, specifically Sartre, have chosen to explain the characteristics of the inauthentic human being instead of defining authentic human being.

Mayes ]5[ argues that Sartre explains the authentic life as discovering and defining oneself and being for itself. Bonnet and Cuypers ]6[ believe that authenticity, on the one hand, necessitates originality which opposes the common social regulations and principles and, on the other hand, needs open interactions and defining oneself in an equal dialogue. They suggest that authenticity should be considered as one of the main concerns in education because it is related to the personalization in learning, moral education, interpersonal understanding, and citizenship education.

The existentialist thinkers regard technology as one of the human cultural representations with a cultural, and hence value, essence. For instance Heidegger believes that the essence of modern technology is not neutral and applies the term gestell which means enframing or forming. For example, he mentions the paper production and newspaper publication industries where trees are turned to papers and later to newspapers which enframe and form the human mind. In addition, Jaspers explains that human being is reduced to a useful and obedient instrument in the current modern world ]7[. Jaspers highlights technique as the most important issues that we must address about ourselves due to the significance of modern technology ]8[. In fact, these thinkers indicate and mention those aspects of technology that influence human life and culture and require further examination.

Today Internet remarkably contributes to the field of education, specifically for the university students who use Internet as a great source of information regularly. However, Internet has other uses with several purposes such as learning, relating to others, pastime, chatting, and etc. The same as other technological products, Internet maintains specific limitations and weaknesses as well. Internet or the cyber-space which are characterized with easy access, availability, and interactional atmosphere has managed to attract countless groups of users who share and exchange massive data. Internet has also created several forms of interactions and relationships and facilitated the interactions among the individuals and groups from different societies around the globe which naturally results in effects and influences that target everyone in the world.

Sartre refers to the human interpersonal communications, responsibilities, freedom, attitudes, and technology in describing the human authenticity. These discussions might be addressed more than ever by the development of new technology including Internet. Internet could be used both as an educational and information technology. Following the presented discussion, this study seeks to examine the relations among the elements such as responsibility, freedom, and relationship that are proposed in the concept of authenticity proposed by Sartre by using the Internet. It should be added that here relation implies the effects that Internet brings about for human authenticity; rather than the logical relation.

2. METHOD

This study applied a descriptive/analytic method. As the process of conducting the study first the Sartre's authenticity was described and analyzed; then the method of concepts and text analysis were employed in order to analyze the Internet as educational technology. In addition, this study used philosophical inquiry ]9[ in which the issues are critically examined and it is rooted in criticism and clarification. This method focuses on clarifying issues, raising the awareness, offering alternatives and finally enhancing the educational tasks ]9[.

3. SARTRE'S AUTHENTICITY

Inspired by his predecessors, including Heidegger, Sartre uses the concepts opposed to authenticity in order to explain authenticity. That is, he discusses what is inauthentic instead of commenting on authenticity. For that reason, understanding the concept of authenticity proposed by Sartre necessitates understanding the concepts that he mentions for the inauthentic human being. One of the frequently used concepts by Sartre is bad faith that covers other relevant concepts such as freedom and responsibility.

The concept of bad faith contradicts authenticity. Sartre related authenticity to relationships and discusses about the interpersonal interactions and the relationship between human and information technology. Sartre in his primary works ]10[ described that the relationship between human as intolerable but in later works ]11[ he defines authenticity in relation to others and respecting the others' freedom. Consequently, for understanding the concept of authenticity by Sartre mentioned concepts are introduced at the first stage and then the relation between these concepts and using the Internet are addressed.

4. BAD FAITH

Bad faith is one of the unique concepts of the Sartre philosophy that is relevant to other concepts such as authentic choice, freedom, and responsibility. Sartre refers to some behaviors indicating bad faith ]10[ for further illustration. For instance, he describes a young woman who has dated a stranger man for the first time and the man tries to take her hand and start a closer relationship. On the one hand, the woman does not want to get close at this stage of friendship; on the other hand, the man might be annoyed, if she refuses to keep his hand. In this case, the woman pretends not to get his intention and tries to deceive herself. This is an example of bad faith. ]2[ elaborates on Sartre's bad faith in various forms. In one of the common and general forms of bad faith, the individuals attempt to deny the responsibilities by accepting that their actions are the only choices.

In other forms of bad faith, the individuals allow other factors and elements to determine the identity and adjust themselves accordingly. For this form of bad faith, Sartre mentions a servant who takes the orders eagerly and immediately. Sartre believes that he plays the role of being a servant, while he is the slave of customers' expectations. The bad faith starts when the servant loses the ability to imagine other forms of behaviors and roles. He is well-aware of his game but, following his choice, he ignores other choices and options. The servant tries to serve the customers immediately with deliberate actions and uses specific words and phrases to please them and introduce himself as an accountable and experienced servant. In fact, he is playing a game by these actions and words which limit him to the bad faith so that he assumes his identity in being a servant and while lost in this role considers it as part of his identity.

Mayes ]5[ suggests that bad faith means lack of attempt for discovering the most meaningful thing in life or, worse than that, knowing the most meaningful thing but overlooking it. According to the existentialism the individual who lives authentically, is honest toward himself. However, when the individual adapts himself to the life styles and images drawn by others rather than the ethical sense of life, he lives for others rather than himself. In other words, his being is for others.

Anguish is one of the factors that direct human being toward self-deception and bad faith. The individuals experience anguish when they confront with heavy responsibilities and death. Sartre believes that while every human being suffers from anguish as an effect of human heavy responsibilities, some of them might try to hide this anguish. He states:

"Existentialism like to say man is in anguish. That is, what they mean: a man who commits himself and who realizes that he is not only, the individual that chooses to be, but also, a legislator choosing and at the same time what the humanity as a whole should be, cannot help but be aware of his own full and profound responsibility. True many people do not appear especially anguished, but we maintain that they are merely hiding their anguish or trying not to facing it"]12[.

The anguish resulted from human freedom might lead him toward the bad faith. From the existentialism perspective, human being maintain internal anguish naturally which could be overlooked by neglecting the human condition and closing eyes to the human destiny and the meaning of life. The conditions such as targeted loneliness and thinking about the meaning of humanity, life, and human responsibility intensify the human anguish. This anguish caries a positive message for the human being since it is a sign of approaching authenticity and the existential authenticity is basically integrated with anguish. Existentialism suggests that anguish could be considered as a sign of finding meaning for life, understanding the human responsibility, and encountering the authentic realities of life and human being.

Avoiding the anguish caused by freedom and responsibility creates bad faith and a paradox in human conditions which allow being as well as self-consciousness, as the source of bad faith. Therefore, bad faith is an attempt to avoid the pressure imposed by this paradox ]2[. The human being betrays himself by bad faith or self-deception. In this kind of deception, the deceiver evidently knows the truth and he is victimized by his own deception. Self-deception in all forms carries the same message as: "I am not what I am" and "I escape from myself" ]13[.

Sartre defines authenticity as accepting the human existence and the subsequent responsibilities and discusses that recognizing the absolute freedom and responsibility conduct the human being toward authenticity. Authenticity requires the human being to accept that he is responsible for what he is and involves understanding one's capacity in changing oneself. The authentic human being recognizes the inevitability of choosing for what he is and what he does. The authentic human being avoids blaming others in order to keep away from the responsibility ]14[.

Sartre mentions unique individual traits for the authentic human being and underlines commitments toward one's life as the most noteworthy. Heter ]15[ points out three conditions for human authenticity: first, awareness about one's conditions; second, accepting the life responsibilities; third, appreciating others' freedom and authenticity. Sartre ]16[ holds that being human necessitates bad faith which might indicate that while Sartre accepts bad faith as an indispensable part of being a human, yet he insists on authenticity as a possibility for human being. He relates authenticity to freedom and believes that human being strive to authenticate his being and to achieve freedom as the foundations for his being and validate his being through freedom. This requires action and accepting the freedom. The authenticity that Sartre has in mind involves the capacity to choose and choosing in terms of individual values. The authentic human recognize his freedom and follow his unique path in life; the image that Sartre draws from Roquentin, the main character in Nausea ]17[. Finally Roquentin finds his unique path in life and accepts his solitude. In fact, authenticity could be defined briefly as creating and constructing oneself which entails freedom and authentic choice.

5. FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Following other existentialist thinkers, Sartre indicates to the adverse effects of information technology including press and audio-visual media. He warns that the advertising bombardments aimed at the citizens weaken the critical thinking skills and encourage them to adopt submissive and passive attitudes ]18[. Sartre claims that the media is capable of substituting good and bad and shape the human judgments: "the goal of this advertisement attack is to develop an analyzed and diminished sense toward the reality. Despite the difficulties for convincing the public to understand the reality, the public who show indifference toward reality could be easily convinced by thoroughly designed reasoning. For instance, the violence imposed by the rich could be presented as defending the peace and poor" ]18[. Sartre, as Kierkegaard notes, blames the advertisements and media as the factors weakening the human being in recognizing the reality and forcing constant control over them ]18[. Mayes]5[ refers to the abundance of messages and reinforcements in American media and explains that today the main goal of education and learning is achieving a high-income job and imitating the norms of a society where individuals follow the public blindly instead of living for themselves. Sartre invents the term being for others to explain this condition. Therefore, Information Technology maintains the capacity to direct the development of the human being and limit their freedom and choices; which threaten the authenticity defined by Sartre. Internet, as one of the universal Information Technology representations, could affect the thinking power of the users through offering abundance and variety of information. The specific and unique nature of cyber-space creates obstacles for choices and, as Dreyfus ]19[ puts forward, lack of hierarchies and infinite choices leads human being toward eclecticism instead of the accurate and authentic choices. In fact, it could be said that profusion of information and lack of order and hierarchies in the cyber-space limit the chances for authentic choice.

6. RELATIONSHIPS FROM SARTRE'S PERSPECTIVE

Sartre, the same as Jaspers, relates authenticity to relationship with others. In spite of the negative view he primarily adopts toward the others, later he finds authenticity in authentic relationships with others. He initially believed that "hell is other" and considered the other's view as a threat. As it was discussed earlier, relating to oneself could be based on accepting one's existence as well as the following freedom and responsibility.

Sartre ]12[ reminds that the human being should respect others' freedom and take this freedom into consideration in their actions. Sartre introduces the unfair and imbalanced relations with no mutual respect as inauthentic while the authentic individuals appreciate others' freedom. He ]10[ adds that the individuals need each other for living an authentic life, because they enrich their own and others' world and their existence is authenticated by the involvement of others' existence in their world.

Daigle]16[ claims that authenticating the individuals' existence by other benefits both parties, because they authenticate each other mutually. Sartre suggests that I is enriched in a new aspect of being by intervention of others. I experiences anguish due to the freedom and seeks to stabilize and secure himself in the universe and this could be facilitated by the others. Therefore, the individuals should actively get involved with each other, since they could choose others' values and as part of their own being. In this way, when the others define their universe they confirm and internalize each other and the values and being selected by them. Nevertheless, freedom is frequently mentioned as the necessary factor for this condition. For that reason, we need to provide freedom for others ]16[.

Sartre ]10[ names two key factors regarding authenticity: first, authenticity requires a human being willing to take the societal identity and roles; second, authenticity needs recognizing the others' existence and involves respecting the others' freedom and fighting against injustice and cruelty. The relationship between the author and the reader is dynamic according to the Sartre's interpretation of mutual relations. The author needs the reader to read his writings and the reader has nothing to read without the author, as a sample of mutual needs. Heter ]15[ clarifies that the author-reader relation could be generalized to the society. Being an author implies assuming a social role which needs to be known by the others who include the readers as well as other author. This indicates that social roles entail mutual and social recognition.

The relationship that Sartre verifies is devoid of dominance and instrumental goals. Sartre draws the image of ideal authenticity as living in the Utopia ]20[, with no injustice and cruelty which he mentions as the enemies of authenticity. In one of his interview in later life, Sartre discusses that he searched for the deepest relations among the human being which connect them far beyond the production relations. In this case, he refers to a fundamental and confident relation which could be found in a family ]20[. In addition, he interprets authenticity as maintaining accurate and evident awareness about the conditions, which might be the manner of being human in some of the cases. He adds that authenticity is an in-progress and constant procedure of constructing the self, and the healthy society reduces the possibility of developing bad human being and motivate the members for constructing themselves. However, he warns that the social institutions could endanger the individual authenticity ]20[.

Elaborating on the concept of authenticity, Sartre explains that authentic human being identifies his existence as well as the consequent anguish. This human being knows that existence is the freedom and takes steps toward accepting the responsibilities for this freedom. He admits himself and maintains values which guide him in finding the right path and he avoids pretexts and excuses. Authentic human being recognizes and respects his own and other human beings' freedom and does not use others as the means to his ends.

The question to be addresses in the present study is that how the relationships and the authenticity that Sartre defines could be extended to the human being who surfs the Internet and visits a variety of websites every day. Does this human being maintain freedom? Is his freedom of choice the same as an authentic human being introduced by Sartre? Sartre highlights the mutual relationship, and the responsibility and commitment of the author when he discusses about the authors-reader relationship; however, are the responsibility and commitment regarded in the cyber-space? For investigating the relationship between Internet and Sartre's authenticity first we need to examine the basic concepts including freedom, choice, responsibility, being, bad faith, and authentic relationship.

7. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHENTICITY AND USING INTERNET

As it was discussed earlier, the concept of authenticity that Sartre proposes is associated with the concepts such as freedom, anguish, responsibility, and facing oneself. The present study seeks to investigate the potential relationship between these concepts and using the Internet. Internet and the cyber-space create a context for the individuals to express themselves in social networks. Therefore, the individuals could exchange ideas with no limitations and barriers in the cyber-space and in this way, they could reveal their being. in other words, the cyber-space provides the individuals with greater freedom for expressing the emotions and thoughts which might facilitate the development of human authenticity. Exchanging ideas and discussing with the anonymous individuals on the Internet could promote the development of being in the individuals due to lack of disrupting barriers and fears ]21[.

From this perspective, the cyber-space might be compared to real world, where the individuals openly express their insights and represent their internal realities which might not be possible in the real world conditions due to the potential restrictions. In fact, the cyber-space enhances the degree of freedom and the human choices. In addition, the personal accounts in the social networks or writing in personal weblogs could help the users to maintain their unique individuality. Gradually, the cyber-space surrounds the life of users who live inside the non-existent borders of the cyber-space. The social network creates the context in which the individuals interact, communicate, ask, answer, sympathize, and guide in a virtual environment. Due to the increasing tendency toward the cyber-space, many users prefer the virtual presence in cyber-space to real world interactions.

Responsibility is one of the characteristics that Sartre notes for the authentic human being. The authentic human being takes the responsibility for his actions, behaviors, and interpersonal interactions because he is a free human being. In the cyber-space, the users could stay anonymous or adopt several identities in the social networks. This anonymity helps the individual to express their ideas and thoughts far away from the limitations imposed by the real world interactions. In fact, the cyber-space might be characterized with anonymity which creates the chances for adopting multi and even fake identities for the users. On the one hand, this anonymity could be considered as an advantage since it eliminates the social norms, barriers, and limitations and the users are free to represent and reveal themselves in an environment devoid of restraints experienced in face-to-face communications ]22[. From this point of view, the anonymity could facilitate the human development which might lead them toward authenticity. On the other hand, the freedom associated with anonymity might contradict commitment and responsibility. While being a cyber-space user does not imply any responsibility or commitment, the authentic individuals should accept the responsibilities for their freedom.

Feenberg ]23[ explains that the virtues fade away in the cyber-space and the virtual freedom leads to abuse, torment, and lack of moral commitment. He believes that the relativism dominates the fading values and the moralities became impossible. These conditions and issues mainly occur due to the anonymity. The shame that according to Sartre is experienced by oneself in front of the "other" loses meaning in the cyber-space where the individuals do not face any other to avoid the shameful actions. Shame is the immediate feeling and feedback that we receive from others, "I" feel ashamed but the shame is reflected by the "other". Levinas discusses that the real world encounters which reveal the faces establish responsibilities toward others and for him it is the face that reveals the moral responsibilities. He reminds the significance of face and even claims that face is in fact the other that Sartre has in mind ]24[. For Levinas, the other takes on meaning in the face and the real-world relations. Therefore, facing the other and the face-to-face encounter is the source of responsibilities toward the others.

When the other face is eliminated in the cyber-space, the individuals could avoid the associated responsibilities and the hell that is other according to Sartre. In other words, the cyber-space might establish a heaven for the users who act and behave freely in the relationship with others. The users could see, hear, and write without being recognized in the hell created by the others. This new circumstance sallow the human being to experience freedom devoid of responsibilities associated with shame, face-to-face encounters, and other.

Therefore, the ethical commitments might lose meaning in the cyber-space where the users could conceal their identities and interact as faceless and anonymous individuals. On the other hand, in the cyber-space the users could freely express the ideas and thoughts without taking the consequent responsibilities. That is, in the cyber-space all the ideas are expressible due to lack of borders and limitations associated with the real world situations. Plato believes that the compromise made from long distance [in written form] would not lead to commitments as much as the compromise made through dialogue [and face-to-face interactions] ]25[. This might be extended to the discussions and dialogues in the cyber-space, since the online interactions mainly occur in written form between the anonymous users. The users communicate with each other (regardless of their personality and individuality), yet connections between the users with common mentalities and ideas are more attractive due to lack of limitations and commitments.

The "other" that Sartre introduces is in fact the one who is looking. However, the "other" in the cyber-space lacks this characteristic. Hence, the users are safe from the other's look and the virtual encounters occur far away from the significant element called "look" which could distinguish the online relations from the real-world encounters. While, according to Sartre, the "other" raises the consciousness about oneself and "I" become aware of my being through the other's look, "I" is not reflected in "other's look" in the cyberspace, which interrupts and reduces the self-consciousness received from the other's look.

Sartre ]26[ notes that "I exists because "I"is seen by others", which shows that for Sartre human existence occurs in the gaze of others. This does not happen in the cyber-space and virtual world where there is no "look" because there is no "other". From this perspective, the human self-consciousness might be reduced in the cyber-space. And, if the other's look is considered as the source of responsibilities and commitments for the individuals, these commitments and responsibilities might be reduced in the cyber-space. Since the repetition of the behaviors and actions could lead to internalization and habit formation ]27[, this lack of responsibilities and commitments might be extended to the real word situations by the cyber-space users.

In agreement with this discussion, Aristotle refers to the significance of habits in personality and development. The habits become part of the human personality gradually and the persistent lack of responsibilities and anonymity in the cyber-space could lead to lack or reduction of responsibilities in the real world. Basically, the other's look could change and shape the human world, experiences, and identity. Sartre suggests that this change occurs due to "other's look". Encountering with the others, which involve other and look and changing the human experience from the surrounding world in the real world, takes on a different form and meaning in the cyber-space. The elements of the real social world could not be found in the virtual social world; hence the nature of being and the effects received from others are different in the cyber-space. However, this does not imply that the mentioned conditions in the cyber-space would necessarily lead to communications and interactions devoid of responsibilities and commitment. The authentic human being would try to maintain his being and real identity and the consequent responsibilities and commitment even as the user in the cyber-space.

The kind of being in the cyber-space differs from the being in real world from other dimensions as well. The digital being (for instance, the profile of the users in the Face book) could either exist eternally or disappear immediately with no traces left behind. Therefore, two contradictory possibilities could be defined for the digital being: eternal existence or immediate disappearance ]28[. That is, the existence of being is controlled by the individuals (here the users) and they could choose to either exits or vanish from the cyber-space. This new emerging "being" could be called as "arbitrary being" that might be temporary or permanent; the profile of the users could exist in the Face book even after their death. This kind of flexible being regardless of the time and space in the virtual world is considered as a novel and fresh experience for the modern human being.

This virtual being could establish the background for the "bad faith" to develop; as discussed earlier, Sartre explains that the individuals with the bad faith try to deceive themselves to think that they do not have the freedom of choice in order to avoid the potential consequences. The cyber-space allows the users to adopt and experience several roles and the individuals could easily pretend identities they do not actually maintain. In this situation, the individuals are surrounded by a world of fantasies and illusions far away from the realities and, in Sartre words, they deceive themselves and take on the being that is not their real being. This could be the practice of "bad faith" that Sartre warns about.

Regarding the existential anguish and Internet, it should be said that the cyber-space could estrange the users with the real world realities and issues, hence it relieve the individuals from the anguish resulting from encountering with the realities. The cyber-space and Information Technology attract the human curiosity, because in this virtual space the main concerns are everyday routines that raise the interest of every human being. In the cyber-space which covers a variety of discussions and interactions lacking depth and worthiness in most of the cases, the users do not related to themselves and the connections and communications involve virtual others and context.

The cyber-space that is characterized with ease of communication, higher freedom, less responsibilities and commitments, and more likeliness for development of bad faith (as a way to avoid the existential anguish), and changing and fake identities could reduce the anxiety and create internal peace for the users. In addition, it is an available, cheap, and ideal environment for pastime, visiting, hearing, and discussing about countless issues. Nonetheless, the diversity and abundance of available information in the Internet reduces the tendency for thinking and reflecting about the events and issues. "The abundance and the pervasiveness of the Information Technology could interfere with critical intellectualism and deep thinking. In other words, limitless access to the information along with the human curiosity and thirst for finding information direct the users toward gathering more and more information about events and issues instead of thinking deeply and intellectually about them" ]29[. Therefore, the cyber-space encourages and expands lack of thinking, specifically about the basic and fundamental issues in life. Popovic ]30[ adds that the individuals experience the existential anguish when confronted with the bare reality regardless of the social and personal structures; hence the existential anguish is a fundamental and ontological experience resulting from the uncertainty about human conditions (p. 33).

The users in the cyber-space are deprived from experiencing the natural and real-world realities immediately which reduces the existential anguish they might experience. In the cyber-space, the users regard the realities in virtual form and the unique structure associated with this space which naturally differs from the authentic experiences in real life situations. On the other hand, the responsibilities are reduced in the virtual discussions and communications which could reduce the existential anguish due to lack of elements involved with the face-to-face encounters and the resulting anonymity. Naghibzadeh ]31[ believes that engaging with the everyday life issues comfort the human being and keeps them safe from the anxiety. However, the comfort and peace are the consequences of self-alienation, escaping from oneself to the harbors of others, and therefore becoming un-being.

Searching the Internet, particularly netsurfing, increases the distance from oneself, because the users are interested in the virtual discussions and chatting largely because of the freedom and lack of responsibilities. Clearly, the comfort experienced after expressing the thoughts and feelings unreservedly and avoiding the real life responsibilities along with the anonymity could establish a comfortable shelter for the Internet users. Additionally, this comfort could lead to a kind of (even temporary) safety that might be the basis for bad faith, because individuals tend to adhere to the bad faith and self-deception for avoiding the realities and the associated responsibilities which finally lead to lack of authenticity. The cyber-space raises the users' awareness since it provides information and news, but this awareness is mainly about the surrounding and external world rather than the internal aspects of human being. While abandoning bad faith could be followed by experiencing anxiety, this type of existential anxiety grows out of self-consciousness. And these issues are considered by the human being mostly in the solitude, loneliness, and silence.

8. CONCLUSION

Internet as one of the omnipresent modern technologies has served the human beings with several advantages and usages. Internet eliminates the conventional limitations imposed by time and place, hence it facilitates the communication among the users from around the globe which is considered as one of the unique achievements of this technology. The cyber-space increases the freedom of speech and choice significantly, however it lacks mutual understandings since online communications among the anonymous users could expand incomplete and defective interactions due to eliminations of elements involved in face-to-face encounters. In most of the cases, the virtual communications and discussions occur between the unknown parties with no responsibilities and commitments. This kind of virtual relationship is vulnerable and unreliable and it could be broken easily and readily with no consequent outcomes. In the real world, breaking the relationships involves more responsibilities due to the commitments and emotional issues such as shame and the mutual understanding as inseparable elements of face-to-face encounters. Internet entertains the users with a variety of issues, relationships, and information and deprives them from thinking about the deep aspects of life which results in reduction of existential anguish. Finally, it should be said that while Internet develops the human authenticity in some aspects, it hinders and weakens the authenticity from other aspects.

References

REFERENCES

[1] Bialystok, L. (2013).On the jargon of authenticity in education: a philosophical reflection. Annual conference, philosophy of education society of Great Britain. New College Oxford, March 2013-11-04.

[2] Flynn. R. T (2006). Existentialism, A very short introduction. United States: Oxford University Press.

[3] Heidegger, M. (1927). Sein Und Zeit, trans. J. Stambaugh, being and time New York: State University of New York Press.

[4] Jaspers, K. (1957).Man in the Modern Ag. Trans by E. Paul. London: Anchor Books.

[5] Mayes, C. (2010). Five dimension of existentially authentic education. Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 32 (2)

[6] Cuypers,S Bonnet,M..(2003). Autonomy and authenticity in education. In: the philosophy of education.Editedby: Nigel Blake, Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith and Paul Standish. Blackwell Publishing.

[7] Heidegger, M. (1954). The question concerning technology and other essays. Translated by William lovit .New York: Garland Publishing

[8] Jaspers, K. (1965).The origin and goal of history. Trans by Michael Bullock.New York and London: Yale University Press.

[9] Haggerson, N. L. (1991).Philosophical inquiry: Implicative Criticism. In: Forms of Curriculum Inquiry SUNY Series in Curriculum Issues and Inquiries. By Short, Edmund C. State University of New York Press

[10] Sartre, J. P. (1957). Being and Nothingness. Tran by H. E. Barnes. New York: Philosophical Library Press.

[11] Sartre, J.P. (1992). Notebooks for an ethics. Trans by David Pellauner. U.S.A: The University of Chicago Press.

[12] Sartre, J. P. (2007a). Existentialism is a humanism. Trans by C. Macomer. London: Yale University Press.

[13] Kaufmann, W. (1956). Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. New York: Meridian Books, INC.

[14] Wicks, R. (2003). Modern French Philosophy from Existentialism to Postmodernism. England. Oxford: One World.

[15] Heter, T. S. (2006).Authenticity and others, Sartre's ethics of recognition. Sartre Studies International, 12 (2) 17-43.

[16] Daigle, C. (2010). Jean Paul Sartre. London and New York: Rutledge.

[17] Sartre, J. P. (2007b). Nausea. Trans by Lioyd Alexander. USA: New Direction Publishing Corporation.

[18] Detemer, D. (2008). Sartre explained: from bad faith to authenticity. Chicago and la sale, Illions: open court.

[19] Dreyfus, H. (2002). Anonymity versus Commitment: the dangers of education on the internet. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 34(4), 369-378.

[20] Golomb, J. (2005). The search of authenticity from Kierkegaard to Comus. London and New York: Rutledge.

[21] Zhao, S. (2005). Digital Self: Through the looking glass of Telecopresent others. Symbolic Interaction, 28(3), 387-405

[22] Christopherson, K.M. (2007). The Positive and Negative Implications of Anonymity in Internet Social Interaction the Internet Nobody know You Are a Dog. Computers in Human Behavior, 23, 3038-3056.

[23] Feenberg, A. (2002). Community technology and democratic rationalization.The Information Society Journal, 18, 181-192.

[24] Levinas, E. (1979), Totality and Infinity, trans. Alphonso Lingis, The Hague:Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

[25] Dreyfus, H. (2009). On The Internet. London & New York: Routledge.

[26] Sartre,J.P. (2009). The Last Chance: Roads of freedom. Tans by Craig Vasey.London: continuum.

[27] Bagheri, Kh. (2004). Revising the Islamic Education, first ed. Tehran: Madreseh Publications [in Persian].

[28] Kasket, E. (2012).Being -Toward-Death in Digital Age. Existential Analysis, 23(2), 249-261.

[29] Zarghami,S.(2011).Ontological Investigation of the Role of Internet in Religious Education. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29,1740-1749.

[30] Popovic, N.(2002).Existential anxiety and existential joy. Practical Philosophy, 5 (20), 32-40.

[31] Naghibzadeh, M. (2008). A Look at the Philosophical Ideas of Twentieth Century. Tehran: Tahoori Publications [in Persian].