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Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self

Name: Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self
Brand: Allen Lane
SKU: 9780241648216
Price: 23.99 USD
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Contributors:

Alexander Douglas

Publisher:

Allen Lane

Binding:

Hardcover

Book Category:

Philosophy, Social Science

Book Subcategory:

Political, Criminology, Anthropology

Book Topic:

Cultural & Social

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The product is eligible for a complimentary return within 30 days from the date of purchase. Furthermore, individual items are shipped within 24 hours of receiving the order.

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Specifications +

Release Date:

9/19/2025

ISBN 13:

9780241648216

Weight:

0 lbs

Size:

Pages:

272

Mint Condition +

product description

Description

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 polarization 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.

About the Author
Alexander Douglas was born in Canberra, Australia where he studied music and philosophy. He now teaches the history of philosophy and the philosophy of economics at the University of St Andrews. He has published two books on the philosophy of Benedict de Spinoza and one on the philosophy of debt. He has grown increasingly interested in combining ideas from Western and East Asian philosophy. He loves music, literature, history, and engineering. He lives with his wife in Edinburgh.