IdentityIn
philosophy,
personal identity refers to the essence of a self-conscious person, that which makes him or her unique. It persists making the person modifications happen through one single identity.
In
philosophy,
identity (also called
sameness) is whatever makes an entity definable and recognizable, in terms of possessing a set of qualities or characteristics that distinguish it from entities of a different type.
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Personal identityThe question regarding personal identity has addressed the conditions under which a person at one time is the same
person at another time, known as
personal continuity.
John Locke considered personal identity (or the
self) to be founded on
consciousness (viz. Memory), and not on the
substance of either the
soul or the
body.
Amnesia???
In
psychology (which historically is philosophically concerned with
dualism),
personal continuity, also called
personal persistence, is the uninterrupted connection concerning a particular person of his or her
private life and
personality. Personal continuity is the union affecting the facets arising from personality in order to avoid
discontinuities from one moment of
time to another time.
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Social identityIdentity is an
umbrella term used throughout the
social sciences to describe an individual's comprehension of him or herself as a discrete, separate entity.
Identity may be contrasted with the notion of
self. In psychology, a
psychological identity relates to
self-image (a person's
mental model of him or herself),
self-esteem, and
individuation. An important part of identity in psychology is
gender identity, as this dictates to a significant degree how an individual views him or herself both as a person and in relation to other people. In
cognitive psychology, the term "identity" refers to the capacity for
self-reflection and the
awareness of
self.
[2].
The Eriksonian framework rests upon a distinction among the psychological sense of continuity, known as the
ego identity (sometimes identified simply as "the self"); the personal idiosyncrasies that separate one person from the next, known as the
personal identity; and the collection of social roles that a person might play, known as either the
social identity or the
cultural identity.
These different explorations of ‘identity’ demonstrate how difficult a concept it is to pin down. Since identity is a
virtual thing, it is impossible to define it empirically. Discussions of identity use the term with different meanings, from fundamental and abiding sameness, to fluidity, contingency, negotiated and so on.
In sociology and
political science, the notion of social identity is defined as the way that individuals
label themselves as members of particular
groups (e.g.,
nation,
social class,
subculture,
ethnicity,
gender, etc.). It is in this sense that sociologists and
historians speak of the
national identity of a particular country, and
feminist and
queer theorists speak of
gender identity.
Symbolic interactionism (SI) attempts to show how identity can influence, and be influenced by, social reality at large.
Identity has played a functional role in
social movements. By emphasizing a group identity, social movements have sought to strengthen politically oppressed groups both by improving members' sense of confidence and by familiarizing the external society with the existing social group. However, national or ethnic identity is sometimes also tied to
demagogy, leading to ethnic or religious conflicts.
Postmodern views of identity understand it as a function of historical and cultural circumstances.
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National identityA
nation is a
human cultural and
social community. In as much as most members never meet each other, yet feel a common bond, it may be considered an
imagined community. One of the most influential
doctrines in Western Europe and the Western hemisphere since the late eighteenth century is that all
humans are divided into groups called nations.
[1] Nationhood is an
ethical and
philosophical doctrine and is the starting point for the
ideology of
nationalism; a nation is a form of self-defined cultural and social community.
[2] Members of a "nation" share a common
identity, and usually a common origin, in the sense of history,
ancestry, parentage or
descent. A nation extends across generations, and includes the dead as full members. Past events are framed in this context: for example, by referring to "
our soldiers" in conflicts which took place hundreds of years ago. More vaguely, nations are assumed to include future generations.
