Report 9th Political Philosophy Workshop, November 18, 2017: " The Problems of Identity in Modernity"

Dr. Luis CORDEIRO RODRIGUES

Professor Patapan, in his presentation, offered an interesting and sophisticated analysis of the foundations and evolution of modern identity politics. More precisely, in his presentation, it is argued that modern identity politics, through the use of the concepts and language of autonomy, recognition and authenticity, is an attempt to recover a sense of dignity that is abandoned in the modern conception of the individual. To carry out this task, Professor Patapan started by showing how Hobbes repudiated the ideas of the classical regime by defending the primacy of the individual. Then the presentation moved to an examination of how Kantian ideas of autonomy were an attempt to repair Hobbes’s theory. Finally, the presentation turned to discussing Hegel’s theory of recognition as a repudiation of Kant. These attempts, however, Professor Patapan contended, raise a complex and contradictory vocabulary that has shaped contemporary political debates regarding justice and the common good.

Professor Patapan contended that the ambiguity and contradictory nature of contemporary identity politics can be traced to the aforementioned attempts during the Enlightenment.

After the initial presentation of his paper, Professor Kwak, as a moderator, asked Professor Patapan to clarify some key concepts of his presentation. Then, Dr Rodrigues, as the respondent to the paper, invited Professor Patapan to consider the hypothesis that colonialism may be the cause for the confusions in conceptions of identity. Further Dr Rodrigues argued that potentially modern philosophers were not all individualistic.

After this Professor Bellamy questioned a bit further on the origins of some concepts of modern philosophy. Dr El Kholi pointed out that the interpretation of the work of Kant by Professor Patapan may not be faithful to the text. Dr Wheeler enquired on the relationship between liberalism and identity politics.

We thank Professor Patapan for the very insightful presentation.