In short, I have discussed identity as something inscribed upon a person, but the nature of that inscription has been left somewhat blank. That’s primarily due to the complicated nature of identity: people are free to behave as they will, but what we will is somewhat pre-determined. This isn’t to say that we aren’t free to choose things, but that our identity makes it more likely that we will choose different things.
Read MoreThis is part of what led me to consider this question further after hearing it brought up on that podcast: how is such a large segment of the population – a plurality, if not a majority – so incapable of producing noteworthy art? And what might this have to do with the culture war that never actually seems to stop?
Read MoreConsider: In the absence of other human beings, what identities do we possess? If you found yourself on a desert island, far distant from other human beings, would you still think of yourself as being an American or a Briton or a Catholic or an Atheist or anything of the sort? Or would, after a period, these identities simply slip from you like dead skin, leaving you just as a person trying to survive in the wilderness?
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