(I know this seems like the set up for a joke, but bear with me \u2013 it\u2019s an honest question which yields surprising takeaways).<\/p>\n
Kwame Anthony Appiah recently gave a lecture in Smith College\u2019s cavernous Carroll Room that answers this baffling question. It was a full house \u2013 the kind of crowd you\u2019d expect to see at a rock concert, not a philosophy lecture. When Appiah started speaking it quickly became clear that he had enough star power to warrant this sort of hype. He stepped up to the podium and launched right into an anecdote about the inscrutability of his own identity as a mixed-race man. He jested with the crowd about the way taxi drivers often try to assess where he comes from – Belgium? India? Ethiopia? He has been greeted in both Portugeuse and Hindi, causing confusion when he\u2019s incapable of responding in kind. The guesses shift depending on where he is and who the driver is. His real answer to the question \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d \u2013 London \u2013 is often unsatisfying to these drivers. Appiah knows they\u2019re really trying to ascertain where his family originally comes from. They\u2019re wondering, \u201cWhat are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Appiah asks: why do identities matter? Why do the taxi drivers care? (And he, unlike many, will maintain that identities matter). Every identity, Appiah notes, comes with labels and with some idea what it is about a person, whether it be practices or appearance, that would make it appropriate for them to be categorized under that label. We use labels to understand people. Our identities might give people a reason to hate us, love us, or think that they\u2019re better than us.<\/p>\n
But labels aren\u2019t just things that are applied to us by taxi drivers and other strangers; they\u2019re things we willingly use to describe ourselves. Identity matters to people, to their understandings of themselves. Having a word to identify with can help us understand how we fit into the world and lend us a sense of belonging. Identity can also give us our reasons for doing things. A person who is raised Catholic may go to confession. If you were to ask them their reason for doing it they might simply answer that they are Catholic. Our identities come with these attendant habits and moral attitudes which help lend reasons to our lives.<\/p>\n
But people who share identities don\u2019t always agree on which practices and beliefs are necessary criteria for admission into the group, debating things like whether you can be Catholic without ever attending Mass. Despite the common understandings we have of certain labels, the individuals who make up any group are varied and believe different things.<\/p>\n
This brings us to tick bites. Mid-talk, Appiah introduced the idea of \u2018generics.\u2019 The statement \u201cTick bites give you Lyme disease\u201d is a prime example. While it\u2019s true that lyme disease is caused by tick bites, it\u2019s not true that all tick bites will give you Lyme disease; in fact, only 2% of tick bites transmit it. Generics like this may be true but they lack specificity, being, well, generic. They can be very misleading. Appiah notes that we often make similarly generic statements about groups of people.<\/p>\n
Appiah warns us that taking identity to signify beliefs precludes the possibility of cooperation between people with differing identities. He sees this clearly demonstrated by the state of partisan politics in the United States. If we know someone\u2019s party we presume to know what they will say about everything \u2013 from guns to healthcare \u2013 before they even say it. But, there are people across the aisle who agree with us, just as there are a number of ticks whose bites do not transmit Lyme disease (and a number of Catholics who don\u2019t go to Mass).<\/p>\n
So what is Appiah\u2019s solution to the divisive nature of partisan politics? It\u2019s simple \u2013 talking. He believes that we need to be around each other, not just in political spaces, but also at the kids\u2019 soccer practice and the block party. We need to get to know and care about people who hold different beliefs, and be in conversation with them. We don\u2019t have to agree or change each others\u2019 minds, we need to find ways to live together anyway.<\/p>\n
Although I tend to agree with Appiah\u2019s argument on the whole I can\u2019t help but feel wary about his relentless optimism on the power of conversation. While I can, and unfortunately do, talk to my homophobic family, I don\u2019t know if I can trust them to have my best interests at heart if they aren\u2019t going to change their minds. What use is their kindness towards me if they advocate for laws that harm people like me?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(I know this seems like the set up for a joke, but bear with me \u2013 it\u2019s an honest question which yields surprising takeaways). Kwame…<\/p>\n