On the cornerstones of personhood, the creation of the self and the formation of individual identity

This thesis aims to set out some provisional theories as to the essential factors that motivate a person to give notable prominence to a particular aspect of their person and thereby orient their attitudes and behaviours to the expression of that aspect and, in some cases, the pursuit of the right to do so. This is achieved in three chapters. The first chapter concerns the nature of identity. I draw upon the work of David Hume in explaining how identity is constituted in the being of an object, and go on to explore how such definitions can be applied to human identity, highlighting some of the problems that Hume encountered. In an effort to address these issues, I draw on the work of Jean-Paul Sartre to explain how it is possible for a person to apprehend their own self, and set out to demonstrate how Sartre's theory accounts for the creation of a personal sense of self, and the consequences thereof. Where relevant, I indicate how Sartre's view complements or resembles Hume's earlier account to demonstrate the concordance between them. The second chapter consists of four short, but focused studies of significant 'cornerstones' of personhood in an attempt to demonstrate how the phenomena described in the first chapter come to bear in real world situations. These studies of race, nationhood, gender, and sexuality should serve to demonstrate that there is a consistent and relatively predictable pattern of stimulus and response that results in a person placing particular emphasis on one of these cornerstones. The third chapter expands upon the themes introduced in chapter 1, explicating their relationship to each other and to the real world, culminating in the conclusion that the way in which individuals perceive themselves in relation to the world has a specific and identifiable behavioural response with specific social consequences