This book offers a lucid inquiry into the precise meaning of one of the most misapplied words and concepts in our language, and one that has given rise to some of the most heated passions and crimes throughout history: identity. The notion of identity—be it religious, ethnic, national, or other—has been one of the fundamental questions of philosophy from Socrates to Freud. In this series of reflections, the author, a Lebanese who now lives in France, considers how we define ourselves and what identity has meant and continues to mean in different cultures.