Moral sincerity
Moral sincerity doesn't get a direct definition in the book, but instead, Trilling spends time considering various points of view, basically deducing (although he never offers a technical definition) that moral sincerity is the practice of doing the right thing because one genuinely believes it to be the moral answer.
Trilling predicts a shift in the early 1970's from moral sincerity to a new moral standard, the art of sticking up for yourself for "who you really are." In other words, defending aspects of one's identity that might not be popular. It's a serious movement away from the more conservative zeitgeist of the 1950's and 1960's.
Authenticity to "who one really is"
Trilling's point is not to suggest that people are only one way, or even that they can know themselves that fully. Rather, he just points to the formation of a new standard or moral value in the culture that says, "Be true to yourself!" above all else. This identity-driven moral ended up defining so much of American art that Trilling's work basically speaks for itself. Instead of shows, movies, and other art that features moral sincerity, as in eras past, the authenticity movement focuses on staying true to one's sense of self.
Ethics in private and public
Ethics refers to the strategic development of personal character by voluntarily sacrificing old ways of life, and by continually adjusting one's beliefs until they maximize a person's potential. Trilling argues that this happens not just on an individual level, but also on a cultural level. The public practice of ethics and shared beliefs accounts (at least in part) for the development of new ways of being. Trilling notices that it seemed at the beginning of the 1970's that the culture was in for some major shifts, and history has proven him correct.
