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You don’t need an identity

Masks all the way down

Issue 96, 19th May 2021
| Emeritus professor at the faculty of philosophy, University of Cambridge and author of the forthcoming book, Not thinking like a liberal, published by Harvard University Press.
1,891 words
Read time: approx. 9 mins

A strong, rigid identity is commonly understood as a strength. However, the very idea of a fixed identity is premised on a philosophical myth: having a complete, all-encompassing account of The Truth, a worldview. Once we realise that we can recognise the imperative for having one, consistent identity as a relic of an ancient, eccentric ethical ideal, argues Raymond Geuss.

 

Raymond Geuss
Issue 96, 19th May 2021

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Vu Hai 27 May 2021

all identify of each personal must private.
[color=#FFFFFF]world of solitaire[/color]

Vu Hai 27 May 2021

great, always afraid about lose my information.

Britt Pole 22 May 2021

Still upset over Brexit then, Raymond?

Jill. A 21 May 2021

How does this relate to political identity? It seems like those are formed by social situations and are very real. I don't know whether this amount of philosophy comes into it.