Rationalising the nature of ‘graduateness’ through philosophical accounts of authenticity.

In this essay, I undertake a philosophical investigation into the nature of ‘graduateness’ based on two distinct ideas on the educational purposes of universities. One draws on European existentialism emphasising how human being is affected and deals with the various challenges of being in the world; the other is grounded in the North American tradition emphasising community engagement and moral commitments. I discuss the differences in these two ideas on higher education drawing on three distinct yet interrelated philosophical accounts of authenticity. I propose that together the two purposes inspire a particularly timely understanding of the nature of
‘graduateness’ and also offer a philosophically based rationale for the singling out of certain core graduate attributes as critical at this time.