Against Identity
The Wisdom of Escaping the Self
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Against Identity
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Narrated by:
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Alexander Douglas
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
Modern life encourages us to pursue the perfect identity. Whether we aspire to become the best lawyer or charity worker, life partner or celebrity influencer, we emulate exemplars that exist in the world – hoping it will bring us happiness. But this often leads to a complex game of envy and pride. We achieve these identities but want others to imitate us. We disagree with those whose identities contradict ours – leading to polarisation and even violence. And yet when they thump against us, we are ashamed to ring hollow.
In Against Identity, philosopher Alexander Douglas seeks an alternative wisdom. Searching the work of three thinkers – ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, Dutch Enlightenment thinker Benedict de Spinoza, and 20th Century French theorist René Girard – he explores how identity can be a spiritual violence that leads us away from truth.
Through their worlds and radically different cultures, we discover how, at moments of historical rupture, our hunger for being grows: and yet, it is exactly these times when we should make peace with our indeterminacy and discover the freedom of escaping our selves.
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Valuable philosophical perspectives
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interesting perspective given from three standpoints
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I was reminded of the work of Iain McGilchrist - identity may largely, (but not entirely?) be a left-hemisphere construct / concept rather than a right hemisphere percept, and also of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and its emphasis on contextually-appropriate behaviour.
In ACT there is a principle that values are essential and so should be discovered and clarified, but should be held lightly. This book reminded of that principle with its treatment of identity i.e. some identity may be unavoidable but should be held lightly (and flexibly fitted to context as appropriate).
The parallels between the work of the ancient Chinese Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi, the 17th Century Dutch thinker Benedict de Spinoza, and 20th / 21st Century French polymath René Girard were eye-opening for me. As the Amazon description of the book explains, the author (Alexander Douglas) explores “how identity can be a spiritual violence that leads us away from truth”.
One interviewer / philosopher on YouTube drew a useful parallel between addiction and the clinging to identity. He suggested, in particular, a parallel between (A) the book’s principle about not controlling / grasping on to identity and (B) the second step of the 12-Step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous i.e. the need to relinquish the illusion of control and the ineffective, wilful reliance on a false self instead of a "higher power". Again, there is an echo of Iain McGilchrist's hemisphere hypothesis here and an echo of the sermon on the mount (Blessed are the poor in spirit (i.e the poor in identity / self concept) for they shall see God (rather than focussing their attention and efforts mainly on their self-concept).
This book / audiobook is so rich in ideas and principles that a short review cannot do it justice.
On finishing it, I have immediately started to listen / read it a second time and to research related books mentioned by the author.
Superb, eye-opening and richly rewarding
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Fascinating ideas expounded brilliantly
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