Identity as Reasoned Choice: A South Asian Perspective on the Reach and Resources of Public and Practical Reason in Shaping Individual Identities

In an increasingly multi-religious and multi-ethnic world, identity has become something actively chosen rather than merely acquired at birth. This book essentially analyzes the resources available to make such a choice.

Looking into the world of intellectual India, this unique comparative survey focuses on the identity resources offered by India’s traditions of reasoning and public debate. Arguing that identity is a formation of reason, it draws on Indian theory to claim that identities are constructed from exercises of reason as derivation from exemplary cases. The book demonstrates that contemporary debates on global governance and cosmopolitan identities can benefit from these Indian resources, which were developed within an intercultural pluralism context with an emphasis on consensual resolution of conflict.

This groundbreaking work builds on themes developed by Amartya Sen to provide a creative pursuit of Indian reasoning that will appeal to anyone studying politics, philosophy, and Asian political thought.

Jonardon Ganeri is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sussex, UK. His research draws upon analytical, Indian and European traditions of philosophical thought. He has published four books, including The Lost Age of Reason: Philosophy in Early Modern India 1450-1700 (Clarendon Press, 2010). He was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, and a research fellow at King’s College London and at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.