The ethics of identity takes seriously both the claims of individuality the task of making a life and the claims of identity these large and often abstract social categories through which we define ourselves what sort of life one should lead is a subject that has preoccupied moral and political thinkers from aristotle to mill. In appraising identity we appear to be presented with a choice between a liberal universalism unmoved by group based demands and a multiculturalism that valorizes group differenceswith clarity elegance and much subtlety anthony appiah demonstrates in the ethics of identity that discussions of identity neednt take us down this path. What about the ethics part to help with this ken introduces the guest anthony appiah professor at princeton university appiah explains several distinctions of the concept of identity which he makes in his book appiah explains one of the examples in his book a butler from the novel remains of the day ken asks how free we are to make an . The ethics of identity takes seriously both the claims of individuality the task of making a life and the claims of identity these large and often abstract social categories through which we