ETHICS OF IDENTITY

RACE, ETHNICITY, NATIONALITY, RELIGION, GENDER, SEXUALITY IN THE PAST COUPLE OF DECADES, A GREAT DEAL OF ATTENTION HAS BEEN PAID TO SUCH COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES. THEY CLAMOR FOR RECOGNITION AND RESPECT, SOMETIMES AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHER THINGS WE VALUE. BUT TO WHAT EXTENT DO "IDENTITIES" CONSTRAIN OUR FREEDOM, OUR ABILITY TO MAKE AN INDIVIDUAL LIFE, AND TO WHAT EXTENT DO THEY ENABLE OUR INDIVIDUALITY? IN THIS BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN WORK, RENOWNED PHILOSOPHER AND AFRICAN STUDIES SCHOLAR KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH DRAWS ON THINKERS THROUGH THE AGES AND ACROSS THE GLOBE TO EXPLORE SUCH QUESTIONS. THE ETHICS OF IDENTITY TAKES SERIOUSLY BOTH THE CLAIMS OF INDIVIDUALITY--THE TASK OF MAKING A LIFE---AND THE CLAIMS OF IDENTITY, THESE LARGE AND OFTEN ABSTRACT SOCIAL CATEGORIES THROUGH WHICH WE DEFINE OURSELVES. WHAT SORT OF LIFE ONE SHOULD LEAD IS A SUBJECT THAT HAS PREOCCUPIED MORAL AND POLITICAL THINKERS FROM ARISTOTLE TO MILL. HERE, APPIAH DEVELOPS AN ACCOUNT OF ETHICS, IN JUST THIS VENERABLE SENSE--B