Abstract: | On the problem of identity one can read in numerous works of psychologists, sociologists, linguists, and philosophers. Quite safely, then, it can be stated that identity is talked about in multifarious terms that are to a lesser or greater extent complementary or contradictory. Having accepted the idea that what spurs the discourse in humanities is the versatility of perspectives, rather than the search for truth in the classical understanding, the authors would like to propose still another way of talking about the sense of identity – a way whose conceptual framework will be a merger of Richard Rorty’s notion of final vocabulary and Ernst von Glasersfeld’s compatibility. Rorty and Glasersfeld continue slightly different intellectual traditions: the former is regarded as a neopragmatist while the latter likes to call himself a radical constructivist. Yet, as will be demonstrated, the notions of final vocabulary and compatibility, when related to the problem of identity, apparently supplement each other, this being due to the fact that they are rooted in the anti-essentialist viewpoint on language, knowledge, and communication which is inherent to the writings of both Rorty and Glasersfeld. Therefore, the approach to be presented in the paper will also, at least partially, consequent on the anti-essentialist outlook: in this approach the focus will be on what can be claimed about intra- and interpersonal conditions in which one develops their sense of identity and not on the very nature of this sense or its specific constituents; these will be viewed as contingent in particular histories of individuals. |
