The Importance of Community for Theories in the Helping Service Professions

Abstract

Martin Heidegger, the author of Existence and Being (1939) often considered the father of “authenticity,” formulated concepts of realness and genuine human existence that gave birth to the development of self growth programs that have been referred to as the “me” generation. Heidegger's emphasis was upon “self-being” which could be achieved only through acts of freedom and responsibility. The individual, according to Heidegger, is a “center for responsibility and becomes truly human through acceptance of responsibilty.”