Topic:	The Ethics of Identity
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Guest:	Kwame Anthony Appiah, Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor Of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University.
What is it?	What makes me who I am? Is it fair of me, or others, to take my race or ethnicity as part of whom I am? How does the age-old virtue of standing up for kith and kin comport with the demands of fairness as cosmopolitanism? Join John and Ken and Philosophy Talk regular Anthony Appiah from Princeton.

About the Guest

Among Anthony Appiah's books are Assertion and Conditionals (1985), For Truth in Semantics (1986), In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture (1992), and, with Amy Gutmann, Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race (1996); and Thinking It Through: An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy (2003.)

"Color Conscious is an extremely welcome addition to the discourse on race. In different but complementary ways, Appiah and Gutmann articulate with precision and subtlety those intricate issues of race that confound us all."--Toni Morrison, author of Jazz, Beloved, Song of Solomon, and other literary works.

"[Color Conscious] brings together two sets of conversations, one about justice and fundamental fairness, the other about racial identity. Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann, two 'passionate democrats,' lower the decibel level and raise by several units of decency and infinite degrees of intelligence the caliber of public discourse on race. Assisted by Harvard professor David Wilkins' wonderful introduction, these formidable scholars each remind us that principles of justice and ideas about race are interdependent and must speak to the actual conditions in which we live."--Lani Guinier.

Listening Notes

What is identity? Ken suggests it is how one represents oneself to oneself. John gives two other possibilities: what others take you to be and how you project yourself to others. What about the ethics part? To help with this, Ken introduces the guest, Anthony Appiah, professor at Princeton University. Appiah explains several distinctions of the concept of identity which he makes in his book. Appiah explains one of the examples in his book, a butler from the novel Remains of the Day.

Ken asks how free we are to make an identity. Appiah answers that there are two aspects to this: what others focus on and what we focus on. The prior is more constrained than the latter. Ken asks how seriously should we take certain aspects of our identities. Appiah thinks that it partly depends on the history associated with that aspect. Appiah continues to explain that an identity can be criticized if it is being used for injustice or praised if it is being used for justice. He also thinks that "bad" identities can be rehabilitated and changed over time. Some people think our identities generate obligations. What are obligations generated by identity? How can identities make demands on us? Appiah gives some examples, identifying as a parent or having a professional a professional identity.

Can we lie about our identities to other? Appiah thinks not because this is a case in which morality constrains what identities we can adopt. How do we decide what identities to adopt? Does philosophy help with this problem? Appiah does not have any advice as to what identities one should adopt but offers a bit of advice as to what sorts of identities should not be adopted. How can I claim an identity that I contradict in my behavior? Ken points out that adopting certain identities is done just for gain. Should the government play a role in the formation and maintenance of identities? Appiah thinks governments should provide resources for identities to be set up, such as religious identities.

• Amy Standen the Roving Philosophical Reporter (Seek to 04:25): Amy Standen interviews several people about what they identify as.

• Philosophy Talk Goes to the Movies (Seek to 46:45): John and Ken discuss Crash, a movie about the interaction of identities and human interaction.

Additional Resources

• Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology entry on identity formation.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

• entry on personal identity

• entry on identity politics

• entry on liberalism

Books and articles by Kwame Anthony Appiah

• Ethics of Identity

• New York Times review of Ethics of Identity

• Color Conscious (with Amy Gutmann)

• "Liberalism, Individuality, and Identity." Critical Inquiry, vol. 127 no. 2, 2001, pp. 305-352. (Requires a subscription to JSTOR)

Other books and articles

• Charles Taylor's The Ethics of Authenticity

• John Hutchinson's Ethnicity

• Gerald Dworkin's The Theory and Practice of Autonomy

• Amy Gutmann's Identity in Democracy

• Nussbaum, Martha. "Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism." Boston Review (Fall 1994), 19.

• An article examining personal identity in the field of social psychology: Stryker, Sheldon, Peter Burke. "The Past, Present, and Future of an Identity Theory." Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 4, Special Millenium Issue on the State of Sociological Social Psychology. (Dec., 2000), pp. 284-297.