This book approaches the concept of identity from both logical-linguistic and socio-cultural
perspectives and explores its implications for our understanding of who or what we persons
really are. In the process it bridges disciplines that often remain disconnected - most
notably analytic philosophy and the social sciences - and offers a novel critique of
citizenship and moral education identity politics and other contemporary domains of inquiry.
Although the book has a multi-disciplinary focus it is philosophical in its overall
orientation (but accessible to readers from outside philosophy) and educational in its mission
(but of interest to readers who are not formally educators). Chapters 2-5 discuss the
philosophical and (where appropriate) scientific dimensions of identity chapters 6-7 explore
its socio-cultural dimensions and chapter 8 examines its educational dimensions and
implications. The book will be of particular interest to those researching or teaching civics
citizenship education and moral education as well as those involved in cultural political and
religious studies in a broader sense. It will also appeal to anyone who finds him- or herself
wondering about the state of the world in the Twenty-First Century and who suspects that
rethinking what it means to be a person in that world might not be a bad idea.
