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 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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