ABSTRACT
Kwame Anthony Appiah wrote The Ethics of Identity in response to larger debates about how the people treat those who differ from ourselves, for as Appiah explains, "in the end, everything that matters morally, matters because of its impact on individuals". Appiah suggests some useful answers that guide how scholars read: In constructing an identity, one draws, among other things, on the kinds of person available in one's society. The social dimension of scholar’s identity is what Appiah refers to when he uses the phrase, "collective identity." The narrative arc suggests that the people become an "adult," "man," or "woman" when the people learn something essential that grants us that identity. Comparing identities to roles in a play helps us understand Appiah when he concludes that "Collective identities, in short, provide what the people might call scripts: narratives that people can use in shaping their projects and in telling their life stories".
