Saturday, May 16, 2009

A snapshot of one of "On Identity" Book pages...


"My Identity is what prevents me from being identical to anybody else."

"Defined this way the word identity reflects a fairly precise idea - one which in theory should not give rise to confusion. Do we really need lengthy arguments to prove that there are not and cannot be two identical individuals? Even if in the near future someone manages, as we fear they may, to "clone" human beings, the clones would at best be identical only at the time of their "birth"; as soon as they started to live they would start being different."

"Each individual's identity is made up of a number of elements, and these are clearly not restricted to the particulars set down in official records. Of Course, for the great majority these factors include allegiance to a religious tradition; to a nationality - sometimes two; to a profession, an institution, or a particular social milieu. But the list is much longer than that; it is virtually unlimited. A person may feel a more or less strong attachement to a province, a village, a neighbourhood, a clan, a professional team or connected with sport, a group of friends, a union, a company, a parish, a community of people with the same passions, the same sexual preferences, the same physical handicaps, or who have to deal with the same kind of pollution or other nuisance."

"It can happen that some incident, a fortunate or unfortunate accident, even a chance encounter, influences our sense of identity more strongly than any ancient affiliation."
These grabbed my attention as they spoke out my mind... It makes sense!!!

"On Identity" Book.
By: Amin Maalouf

No comments:

Post a Comment