Now, most theorists of authenticity prefer to speak of authenticity as the product of continuous self-creation and development and not of an inherent, fixed self-essence. But if there is nothing 'inherent' about the authentic self, then the question arises as to whether we can even speak meaningfully about something--a self--that is at risk of being corrupted from the outside, in the first place. If authenticity requires the self to be fully autonomous--that is, not subject to any external influences, being completely self-determining--then that self-determination--if it is even possible--has to consist, by definition, of influences that are inherently present 'in' that self. In other words, the whole idea of an authentic self (over against the outer-directed ideal of sincerity) seems to depend on the implicit assumption of a profound, internal purity of the self that differs fundamentally from the impurity that lies outside it.