34th Annual Student Research Conference
Uneasy Identities: A New Model for Identity in Social Philosophy
Thomas R. Sebacher
Dr. Natalie Alexander, Faculty Mentor
There are several different models of identity that social philosophers use to understand how people come to think about themselves. The models presently include three different varieties; postmodern models believe identities stem from the creation of a discourse on the identity, while materialist models believe identities stem from people’s work-lives and their jobs, and the final model is a combination of these two, where discourse derives from a person’s work-life, and vice-versa. All of these models involve a distinction between discourse and material activity into either two parts of a person’s identity, or a situation where one of these takes precedence in determining the person’s identity. My essay provides an alternative model in which there is no difference between the production of discourse and material activity. Both produce concrete identities in present social conditions, mark and express an identity held by a personage, and are subsumed under human activity.
Keywords: Identity, Philosophy, Sociology
Topic(s):Interdisciplinary Studies
PHRE Senior Seminar
Presentation Type: Face-to-Face Oral Presentation
Session: 402-6
Location: SUB Activities Room
Time: 4:45