The Ontogenesis of Human Identity

Summary

“≪Es ist, als wären unsere Begriffe bedingt durch ein Gerüst von Tatsachen≫.

Das hiess doch: Wenn du dir gewisse Tatsachen anders denkst,sie anders beschreibst, als sie sind, dann kannst du die Anwendung gewisser Begriffe dir nicht mehr vorstellen, weil die Regeln ihrer Anwendung kein Analogon unter den neuen Umständen haben.”

(L. Wittgenstein, Zettel, § 350)

Introduction

Since the birth of western philosophy much time and energy have been spent on identity. Is it worth saying more on the subject? Such a question cannot have but a positive answer if philosophy is considered as a contextualised unending research into fundamental problems concerning human beings and their situation in history, in nature, and in society. If philosophy is really an unending research, its problems, its solutions, its arguments must depend on the historical and cultural context in which they have been formulated. A fortiori, this is true also for human identity.

In what follows, I will argue for a contextualised solution to the problem of human identity. This means that I will use results of contemporary disciplines that cannot be neglected if we want what we affirm has a value beyond the philosophical domain in which it has been formulated. In particular, I will resort to the biological sciences. Why should we, philosophers, forget biology, and therefore science, in dealing with human identity? Are we sure we are right in discussing the latter only from a purely philosophical point of view, and without considering, and sometimes also contradicting, what science teaches us? Are we sure that in this way we do not display philosophical hybris.