O conceito de identidade na filosofia e nos atos de linguagem
Abstract
Dicionário de Análise do Discurso, of Charaudeau and Maingueneau, at the
entry Identidade, affirms that the concept of identity is difficult to define. It is central for
most human and social sciences, and it is the object of different definitions, some of which
very vague. This encouraged the research about the concept and the word identity. The
word is erudite, originated in philosophy, but the idea of identity is permanent and is
related to other words of everyday use. This thing, this stuff.
Since the time before Socrates there are theories about the concept of being
and the principle of identity. It is in the use of language, with the demonstrative adjectives
and verb forms that the identification of people occurs, the speaker reveals itself in
opposition to the listener: identity and alterity.
We intend to demonstrate that the concept of identity
has always been linked to the concept of being. Everything has identity if it is a being with
internal unity, distinct from others, if it has its own coherence, if it presents its truth and its
value. The principle of identity has a negative formulation in the principle of noncontradiction,
which guarantees the coherence of both language and communication.
Language, however, is not always logical. Sometimes, it seems to contradict
the principle of non-contradiction. Language needs the resources for identification: the
definition, the metalanguage, the metadiscourse of the speaker, when the speaker can
remake his own speech, correct himself, and prevent misunderstandings