[Xmca-l] Re: Political constructions of selfvspoliticalconstructions of identity

[Rein Raud]

Annalisa, you can think of the ity in terms of a 5-day weather forecast. Where I live, it can change substantially in several hours - in the morning we are told that the day after tomorrow will be sunny, in the afternoon that the day after tomorrow will rain. And yet it is the most possibly correct forecast each moment. Trumpity (just like Clintonity) may be entirely different at each moment, and yet it is what makes him Trump (or her Clinton). And no, I do not believe that an Aristotelian substratum is necessary for a process of change - this is how Western metaphysics has envisaged this, but it is not the only way to describe change at all. For example, in a celebrated passage, Dogen (1200-53, my favourite Japanese thinker) says that “firewood” never changes to “ashes” just like “summer” does not change into “autumn”. I agree. Best wishes, Rein