This essay will show how identities are fluid from the view of Nietzsche and Bauman. However, both believe in the fluidity of identity for very different reasons, which I believe is due to their contrasting time of writing. The issue of identity has been a prominent matter within philosophy since Plato and is more relevant than ever today with the rise of social media and current changing views that are moving towards populism and anti-establishment. My hypothesis is that Bauman is correct in his view of identity as he provides a very accurate account of how things are in the twenty-first century, based on factual social evidence. On the other hand, Nietzsche’s view can no longer be relevant today from his inconsistency and reliance on myth,
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One of Nietzsche’s more mature works, Ecce Homo, is an autobiography that focuses on his pessimism through life, where he aims to present himself as an example of how to achieve selfhood. Nietzsche does this through a means of self-explanation and self-justification: ‘a self is not something you just are- you have to achieve it, and keep achieving it over and over again.’ (Nietzsche, 2007, p.xvii) Thus, a self is something you strive towards rather than something prearranged. Identity as a process of becoming presupposes human beings do not already know who they are, which enables mistakes in life to have ‘their own sense and value’ (Nietzsche, 2007, p.31), by means of them not defining an individual, but rather showing them how avoid acting in the future. This results in human beings constantly developing and subsequently having flux identities. The excessive, self-conscious performance Nietzsche provides of himself proves that identity cannot remain the same overtime because the self that is provided ‘only exists in the moment of the performance itself.’ (White, 1997, p.170) Therefore, providing a self that is momentary shows the way identity must be fluid for Nietzsche, as one is constantly evolving over …show more content…
It seems Nietzsche goes from one extreme to the other, which makes it difficult to engage with and grasp his concept of identity. Furthermore, I believe Nietzsche’s view to be slightly out-dated in today’s society. Nietzsche is very much a writer of his time, which is evident through his notion of the eternal recurrence. In today’s society, scientific fact is the base of all truth and knowledge. Scientific development has proven time is not infinite like Nietzsche suggests, through the revelation that is the Big Bang. From this, the once popular belief that God created the world has been bypassed, as myth is no longer a reliant source of factual truths. This takes me onto contemporary thinker, Bauman, who does provide a more factual theory of identity, which is ultimately more relevant and fitting with how things are
One of Nietzsche’s more mature works, Ecce Homo, is an autobiography that focuses on his pessimism through life, where he aims to present himself as an example of how to achieve selfhood. Nietzsche does this through a means of self-explanation and self-justification: ‘a self is not something you just are- you have to achieve it, and keep achieving it over and over again.’ (Nietzsche, 2007, p.xvii) Thus, a self is something you strive towards rather than something prearranged. Identity as a process of becoming presupposes human beings do not already know who they are, which enables mistakes in life to have ‘their own sense and value’ (Nietzsche, 2007, p.31), by means of them not defining an individual, but rather showing them how avoid acting in the future. This results in human beings constantly developing and subsequently having flux identities. The excessive, self-conscious performance Nietzsche provides of himself proves that identity cannot remain the same overtime because the self that is provided ‘only exists in the moment of the performance itself.’ (White, 1997, p.170) Therefore, providing a self that is momentary shows the way identity must be fluid for Nietzsche, as one is constantly evolving over …show more content…
It seems Nietzsche goes from one extreme to the other, which makes it difficult to engage with and grasp his concept of identity. Furthermore, I believe Nietzsche’s view to be slightly out-dated in today’s society. Nietzsche is very much a writer of his time, which is evident through his notion of the eternal recurrence. In today’s society, scientific fact is the base of all truth and knowledge. Scientific development has proven time is not infinite like Nietzsche suggests, through the revelation that is the Big Bang. From this, the once popular belief that God created the world has been bypassed, as myth is no longer a reliant source of factual truths. This takes me onto contemporary thinker, Bauman, who does provide a more factual theory of identity, which is ultimately more relevant and fitting with how things are