Tautótes: On the Western Meaning of Identity

The first English translation of Emanuele Severino’s radical critique of the notion of identity, this is a fundamental work of the Italian philosopher. The first English translation of Emanuele Severino’s radical critique of the notion of identity. Starting from his central intuition that Western culture is essentially nihilism, Emanuele Severino reflects anew on the problem of identity, abandoning the ambiguous (and ultimately contradictory) fashion in which being and becoming are grasped in the Western tradition. In this foundational work in Severino’s philosophy, the philosopher questions the dominant understanding of identity in Western culture, tracing it back to Aristotle’s definition of identity as ‘tautótes’. In his endeavour, Severino discusses – with his particular depth – the most renowned philosophical passages from Hegel, Aristotle, Plato and Kant, presenting a radical critique of identity. This book constitutes part of Severino’s monumental theoretical apparatus, comprising a critique of Western metaphysics that sets him alongside Heidegger in contemporary theory. This translation of Tautótes will appeal to those interested in the central problems of Ancient and contemporary philosophy, ontology and metaphysics.