Appiah Notes on "Identity, Authenticity, Survival"
SLIDE 2- QUESTIONS OF RECOGNITION
➢ APPIAH quotes CHARLES TAYLOR, asserting that modern social and political life and very much based off of questions of recognition. o In our liberal society, we see recognition as a method to acknowledge individuals and what we perceive to be their identities o We have a notion from “ethics of authenticity” that people have the right to be acknowledged publically as what they already really are o We deny people rights when society tells people to hide something about themselves and pretend to be something their not, such as being Jewish or gay. o Discussion on recognition conflicts with the idea of an individuals authenticity and identity. o “If what matters is my individual and authentic self, why is so much contemporary talk of identity about large categories- gender, ethnicity, nationality, race, sexuality- which seem so far from the individual.” (149) o there is a disconnect between using collective language such as this and the movement for an individual to have a “modern notion of the self”
SLIDE 3-RUBRIC OF IDENTITY
➢ APPIAHT maintains TAYLOR’s defense to this phenomenon, and throughout this essay discusses features of TAYLOR’s story under three crucial rubrics- identity, authenticity, and survival.
➢ Identities whose recognition TAYLOR discusses are what we call collective social identities, such as religion, gender, ethnicity, race, and sexuality. o APPIAHT says these identities somewhat heterogeneous or diverse because they matter differently to people who subscribe to them in different ways, but these are the major collective identities that demand recognition in North America. o He uses the example of religion or of sexuality- both of which he says matter different to different people and are experienced in different ways at various stages of life. o Connection between a persons individual identity, which is the focus of TAYLORS discussion, and these collective identities: each persons identitiy is
➢ APPIAH quotes CHARLES TAYLOR, asserting that modern social and political life and very much based off of questions of recognition. o In our liberal society, we see recognition as a method to acknowledge individuals and what we perceive to be their identities o We have a notion from “ethics of authenticity” that people have the right to be acknowledged publically as what they already really are o We deny people rights when society tells people to hide something about themselves and pretend to be something their not, such as being Jewish or gay. o Discussion on recognition conflicts with the idea of an individuals authenticity and identity. o “If what matters is my individual and authentic self, why is so much contemporary talk of identity about large categories- gender, ethnicity, nationality, race, sexuality- which seem so far from the individual.” (149) o there is a disconnect between using collective language such as this and the movement for an individual to have a “modern notion of the self”
SLIDE 3-RUBRIC OF IDENTITY
➢ APPIAHT maintains TAYLOR’s defense to this phenomenon, and throughout this essay discusses features of TAYLOR’s story under three crucial rubrics- identity, authenticity, and survival.
➢ Identities whose recognition TAYLOR discusses are what we call collective social identities, such as religion, gender, ethnicity, race, and sexuality. o APPIAHT says these identities somewhat heterogeneous or diverse because they matter differently to people who subscribe to them in different ways, but these are the major collective identities that demand recognition in North America. o He uses the example of religion or of sexuality- both of which he says matter different to different people and are experienced in different ways at various stages of life. o Connection between a persons individual identity, which is the focus of TAYLORS discussion, and these collective identities: each persons identitiy is