The Anthropological Bases of Political Identity

This chapter investigates the identity of humans, seen as active subjects who develop themselves by being involved in biological and cultural historical processes, which contribute to shaping their characteristics and their agencies. Historical processes connect individuals to groups through relations of formal identity. As a result, each individual has a multidimensional identity and relations with different groups. Political identity is one of the dimensions of the identity of an individual, on the basis of which the individual can be a member of a political community aiming at the common good. The chapter considers some political implications of this notion of political identity, concerning both the risks of populism and the political conditions of full human flourishing.