The problem of false identity

Abstract

The author draws attention to the false identity phenomenon of which the modern public consciousness has recently become aware. The significance of this subject is attributed to the fact that in the age of globalization, multiculturalism and free access to the entire knowledge of the world selfsameness loses its clear and distinct configuration, becomes more complex and suffers constant changes and transformations. The author makes an assumption that this problem is marked by fear of realizing one self’s internal freedom which is the ground of any identity.

Along with the anthropological need of individual to penetrate one’s nucleus of personality, the article also shows how important the mechanism of such penetration is. This is not merely a discovery of inner integrity, a search for oneself and solidarity with other individuals; this is the relations with reality, an attempt to define not only oneself in this reality but the reality itself through oneself. The problem of identity is closely bound with such subjects as personality, freedom, individual essence and also the purposes and meanings of human existence. There is no doubt that not knowing one’s I reflects on the quality of the entire life. Of course, one can be satisfied with mere external aspects of existence, but the search for oneself is not limited by external similitude. Penetration into one’s inner selfsameness is of great importance for an individual.

Relying on the ideas of classical and postclassical psychoanalysis, the article demonstrates the structural properties of this mechanism along with the role the unconsciousness plays in self-discovery of an individual. An assumption can be made that the choice of any selfsameness is based on the inner orientation on “I must” or “I want”. This does not mean that the individual is aware of his / her motives. Usually, this orientation occurs unconsciously. Such mindset is rooted deep in childhood. According to classical psychoanalysis, it is super-ego that acts as such censor, as conscience, as an authority that determines the motives. Therefore, one may assume that one of the important factors in forming the inner identity is family relationships. We find the basis that influences the development of the positive or negative content of super-ego in the Erikson’s concept. Unlike Freud, who emphasized the Oedipus complex, Erikson pays attention to the first stage in which the basal trust or mistrust is established. The course of relationships in the child-mother dyad forms, according to Erikson, the initial sense of identity.

Furthermore, while considering the ideas of existential philosophy, the author regards another dimension of this mechanism. There is always somebody who makes the choice: either to establish the similitude or to get rid of the identity imposed by the society or something else. From this point of view, self-identity could be understood as an existential identity, as the selfsameness of the subject in a situation of choice, in effort and struggle, in the space of freedom. There occurs a self-dependent constituting of oneself.

The following paradox is especially emphasized in this article: each stage of human development, characterized by another level of individualization, has rather put a greater distance between one and one’s self. The article analyzes the causes of this contradiction. It is fair to say that the internet changes our notion of time and space. There are too much information and everyday events. Self-identity becomes public. It is formed in social networks under the influence of public consciousness. Thus, a human being becomes a part of the information flow. Some problems arise in the perception of the Other. As postmodernists notice, it is the openness to the Other that becomes a trap. There is no true Other, there is only the emptiness, a social role, a pattern, a hyphen-man. The impersonal is reproduced and even cloned. One’s innermost essence loses its significance. The modern man avoids responsibility, transferring the decision-making on mass culture and technological progress. On these grounds the entertainment market grows, offering the individual a possibility to hide in the fireworks of emotions and momentary delights.

Therefore, the author brings up another problem, articulated by postmodernists: an assumption can be made that the I vanishes once it becomes fragmented. But this brings us back to the question “Who makes the choice?” The cultural development does not lead to the blurring of individuality, but rather to its revealing. Human I does not disappear, but becomes more complex and diversified; new angles of self-perception are discovered, new ways of self-identification appear. Then what is one running from? One runs from the recognition of one’s limitless inner freedom that creates a false notion of the I being absent. But this is too hard to realize and accept.

Basing on the given analysis, the author demonstrates 3 levels of this problem: 1) A human being has a relatively regular distinct selfsameness; 2) A divergence between the prototype and its image; 3) Identity that equals zero.

In conclusion, the author discusses the influence this phenomenon has on social processes. The human mind does not cope with such amounts of information. There appears a totally different pathology: intolerance to electromagnetic emanation. As another strategy of self-defense, our mind uses transhumanism - a desire to dissolve in technology. However, there is a positive aspect to it. Having exhausted all inner resources in this mad race the individual can develop an understanding or, at least, make the first step to understanding one’s true needs and desires, realizing the absurdity and senselessness of the imposed images and values.

As the result, the phenomenon of false identity is partly a consequence of postindustrial society concerned with industrial progress and technological production, and partly - of the scientific progress. It may express the collapse of individual or group identity, a multitude of identities with an effect of emptiness and loss of the need of selfsameness itself. However, this is a new stage of realization of one’s depth. This is a freedom which one has to face.