Title: Sincerity, Authenticity, and Profilicity: Notes on the Problem, a Vocabulary, and a History of Identity
Lecturer: Hans-Georg Moeller (Professor of philosophy, University of Macau)
Chairperson: Paul D’Ambrosio (Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University)
Date: 1 pm, May 14th, 2018 (Monday)
Venue: Room 3102, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
This presentation attempts to provide a preliminary outline of a theory of identity. The first section addresses what the sociologist Niklas Luhmann has called “the problem of identity,” or, in other words, the mind-society (rather than the mind-body) problem: In how far can the internal (psychological) self and the external (social) persona be integrated into a unit? The second section of the presentation briefly defines a basic vocabulary of a theory of identity. “Identity” is understood as the existentially necessary formation of a coherence between the “self” (the “I” as it is experienced in thoughts and feelings), its body, and its social “persona” (the individual person with its social attributes). Three different major paradigms of identity formation are distinguished from one another: a sincere identity is constructed through a firm commitment of the self to its social roles; an authentic identity is constructed through the creation of a social persona on the basis of one’s unique and original self; a “profilic” identity, as we call it, is shaped by successfully presenting a personal profile under conditions of second-order observation as they prevail, for instance, in the social media, but also in other contemporary social systems. In the third section of the presentation, we present a sketch of the historical sequence of these three paradigms of identity. Although these paradigms are not mutually exclusive and can coexist, it seems that sincerity flourished in premodern society, while authenticity came to prominence along with the functional differentiation of modern society and is now, along with the increased significance of second-order observation, gradually overshadowed by the influence of profilicity.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:
Hans-Georg Moeller, a famous sinologist, is currently a professor of philosophy at the University of Macau. In 1993, he received his Ph.D. in Sinology, Philosophy, and European Human Culture at the University of Bonn, Germany. In 1998, he completed a Habilitation dissertation at the University of Bonn. From 1991 to 2001, he was an assistant researcher in the Department of Sinology at the University of Bonn in Germany. From 2001 to 2008, he taught at the Department of Philosophy at Brock University in Canada. From 2003 to 2006, he was the head of the department and from 2007 to 2008 he was the professor of the department. He later became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cork, Ireland. Published more than ten monographs in English and German, including: The Radical Luhmann, New York: Columbia University Press, 2011; The Moral Fool: A Case for Amorality, New York: Columbia University Press, 2009; Daodejing (Laozi): A Complete Translation and Commentary, Chicago: Open Court, 2007; Philosophy of Morality, New York: Columbia University Press, 2006 (Italian Translation, 2007; Chinese Translation, 2010); Laozi (German), Freiburg: Herder Press, 2003; Central: Taoism, Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp/Insel, 2001 (new version, 2010), etc.