Evolution of Identity

I believe the idea of ownership and self identity is something that has evolved over the course of time. It is really hard to pinpoint one philosopher and say that they are absolutely right when they lived in a completely different time period than the one we live in right now. I also think that since now the quality of life for humans is higher than it has ever been in history plays a role into what we think today. Looking back a few hundred years ago, owning a lot of money or owning a very high stature could mean that we would be able to greatly increase our quality of life. Now we are at that point where having a lot of money and valuables wouldn’t increase our quality of life as much as it would back then.

I think that in today’s world, owning items gives people a sense of purpose or reason instead of physical satisfaction. Obviously, there are still people who want to own a bunch of things to have fun, but I believe a lot of people do it for a deeper reason they do not think of. When one owns something it sets them on the same playing grounds and everyone else in the world. It allows them to feel like they are allowed to own something just as much as the guy next to them. If people are not able to own anything in their name, why would they even try to do things for themselves? In this world where we can own things it gives all of us the drive we need to obtain things for ourselves and make ourselves feel like we have accomplished something.

Is it possible to own an idea or a skill set? Well, that depends on what the definition of ownership means to someone. If they believe that ownership means having something that can only be owned by them, then they would probably say no it isn’t possible to own imaginary things. On the other hand, if they think ownership is just the ability to own something, then they would most likely agree that it is possible to own ideologies.

Ownership is not just something that changes through time, but also through one’s own life. I think when people are younger they tend to want to own more stuff so that they can say they are better than someone else or “cooler”. But once you get older you tend to not think so much about your social status and more about what really makes you happy. Overall I believe ownership is something that gives us temporary happiness for the situation you are in.

“evolution” by Esthr is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.