 If there is nevertheless good sense in talk of the singularity of my existence, it will not be as something with which one starts but as  something that gets achieved in recovering oneself from alienation or lostness in the “crowd.” If the normative is first of all the normal, however, it might seem that talk about a norm for the singularity of existence, a standard for thinking about what is my ownmost just as I myself, would be incoherent. It is here that the idea of “authenticity” comes into focus.