About the fluidity of identity
Identity — a complex notion that entails a fundamental contradiction. From Latin identitas (“sameness”), it means that something is itself at any given time. If one were to apply this definition to physical objects that do not change, it would hold true. In the context of human beings, however, this does not really seem to make sense. A human being grows and changes with every second of his life. The human body stores every experience, whether direct or indirect. Our personality develops over time. In this context, how can it still be that we speak of identity in relation to human beings? How can we remain identical if we are in fact constantly evolving? In this essay, I address precisely this contradiction and try to understand the relationship between identity and time.
To answer these questions, let’s look at three philosophical approaches to explain persistence over time based on Dustin Gray’s essay “To Be Is To Persist”. The first perspective is that of endurantists. It states that an object is the same object at all times during its existence. According to this theory, the spatial parts of an object are therefore the only real parts of the object. For example, we would have to show the same identity in our teenage years as well as in adulthood. Now, one could say that we all have certain partial identities from the outset, but that we express them at different times. Certain triggers bring out a different side of us that has always been there. Time would then carry out the task of expressing existing parts of identity. But how are we supposed to have all these characteristics from birth, when it is the experiences that shape our personality? Accordingly, this view does not seem appropriate for developing identity in space and time. Moreover, it is contrary to Leibniz’s “indiscernibility of identicals”. This states that two objects must differ in at least one observed property if they are not one and the same,
Next, we look at perdurantism. According to this, there are temporal parts of identity in addition to the spatial ones. Beyond the three dimensions of space, there is a fourth dimension in which the temporal parts of our identity exist. Accordingly, there are different identities yesterday, today and tomorrow. This concept does not refer to a single object, but to a collection of parts that, in sum, make up an object. The existence of this object over time consists of different aggregate compositions of temporal parts. Identity, therefore, gains or possibly loses new parts over time based on experiences. Time is therefore an adaption process that implies, through time, we can exist as an individual while preserving a fluid concept of identity. We exist only as an aggregate of a multitude of different parts of an overarching identity. This notion of identity as something fluid resolves the contradiction of its meaning set up at the beginning. It is also consistent with Leibniz’s indiscernibility of identicals.
While the last approach already gives a satisfactory possible explanation of persistence in time, for the sake of completeness we look at a third approach. Stage theory, similar to perduantratism, states that we exist in time through temporal parts. Unlike this, however, in stage theory, there is no view that we are aggregates of temporal parts. Rather, each stage of our life is a separate distinct object. It follows that our identity is only momentary. Time would therefore mean the possibility to transition into a new phase of our life — a new identity. At first glance, this seems a valid statement. However, the expression of distinct phases is problematic from certain points of view. For according to this, we as human beings would not possess an identity that transcends time. However, certain parts of our identity always remain. They are what makes us, why our friends and family love us and stick by us, no matter what phase of life we are in.
Accordingly, this analysis concludes that the perdurance perspective seems to best explain the existence of identity in space-time. To illustrate this example, I will draw on a saying that is familiar to everyone: Time heals all wounds. We use this expression all too often in our everyday speech. It expresses a promise that at some point every pain, every disappointment will be overcome. Especially in the context of mental wounds, the development of identity plays an important role. Mental wounds are the result of a break from one’s own reality. Previously set in stone, one’s own identity is called into question by experiencing harm. Healing the resulting wound is a process of coming to terms with a new reality. In this process, time is the means to the end of confronting this identity divergence. Time means the extension of our identity through temporal parts when we speak of “time heals all wounds”. Painful experiences lead to learning processes that, in the long run, result in the expansion of our identity. They are triggers for personal growth. As painful as the wounds we inflict on ourselves are, they can also have a positive effect as an occasion to expand self-identity. Nevertheless, it is not only the time with which we expand our identity. The subject concerned must also take an active stance to initiate the expansion process. Time only becomes productive when it is accompanied by agency.
As with real wounds, plasters are not enough to process the damage in the case of profound injuries. In such cases, investigating the causes and effects of certain pathologies is crucial. Time does not heal mental wounds when processing is outsourced through suppression or projection onto others. Rather, with such an approach, wounds are only treated temporarily and can be torn open again by triggers at any time. Identity and experienced wounds are not natural but thoroughly historical. Since they are historical, they can be healed by creating a new historical context. It is, therefore, possible to create an expanded identity through self-practice that is not bound to natural, super-historical truth. In this setting, time is the continuum that makes this process of identity development possible. In the end, we do not really have an identity according to the meaning of the word. Identity is a fluid concept that only describes a state that changes over time according to perdurantism. Time could not heal wounds if identity were a fixed state.
This view can also be applied in the context of our society. Our identity is constantly evolving according to the perdurance perspective. However, important insights and horrific events should not be forgotten or neglected in the process. It is therefore important that we process and remember societal traumas in order to further develop our common identity based on them. For this to work, we also need to allow fluid states of identity and change. Holding on to the idea of a fixed identity prevents the healing of wounds. The lack of processing and repression does not lead to further development. Rather, it leads to attempted preservation of identity prior to certain experiences; maintaining an obsolete identity that does not correspond to reality because of what has been experienced. The resulting divergence from the evaluation of identity at different points in time leads to a slandering of societal advancement. Time is no longer used for development purposes but for distraction from reality. This lack of active processing thus creates parallel realities, which in turn are the cause of society communities moving further and further away from each other. Furthermore, an increasing divergence of realities is expressed in two ways in society: Either in the mutual fighting of the ideologies built within the realities or an ever-increasing desire for distraction and numbing that enables us to ignore this obvious divergence. Identity, as in the personal and societal context, must be seen as something fluid that evolves over time and through active processing. Clinging to a fixed notion of identity ultimately prevents open wounds from healing.
In summary, unlike the definition and majority understanding of the word, identity is the further development of the whole through the addition of new parts. These new parts change the whole, which is why one should refrain from the concept of identity as a fixed thing. Time is a conductor in this process of identity development. Accordingly, identity is made up of a number of time-dependent parts which adapt to the circumstances experienced in the course of personal and societal life. Both the individual and society have no permanently fixed identity. Wounds can be triggers of identity expansion as long as they are actively dealt with. Only when we accept the ability of identity to transform, we are ready to heal the wounds that have emerged.
