Margaret was at her desk sipping a steaming cup of Earl Gray tea. I went into her office and sat down. I always found the spicy floral aroma of Earl Gray to be homey and relaxing. I felt some of my tension evaporate as I slumped a bit in the chair. I closed my eyes, enjoyed the aroma of her tea, and let my thoughts clear out.
"Margaret, I wanted to talk to you about this doctoral seminar that I am doing. We are exploring philosophical issues in information systems and I need a unifying philosophical concept. Most of the literature in this area takes positive social action as the most fundamental philosophical concept in social science research. Yet I don't agree with that position. I have a different idea that I would like to explore."
Margaret's face was impassive, but I knew she was enjoying this. Although there wasn't much philosophical work in information systems nearly every bit that there was agreed with Margaret and espoused positive social action. Here I was taking on the world, for a change, and, at the same time, challenging Margaret's most basic philosophical tenets. Yet, Margaret was first and foremost and open-minded philosopher and would much rather hear a challenge to her beliefs than an agreement.
"You have my attention." She said. I thought I might have seen the slightest twinkle in her eye. I even thought that the corner of her mouth might have twitched in the subtlest hint of a smile. But my mind was working over time and I didn't really trust anything that I thought.
"I think the most fundament philosophical concept is the concept of identity." I began. "It is the basis of how we organize our knowledge about the world. Without a firm understanding of this concept it is impossible to claim that you really know or understand anything else. So I would like to use this as the basis for my seminar."
"Well, why don't you then." She replied. "You certainly don't need my permission."
"I realize that Margaret," I said, "I don't need your permission. I need your help."
"So you call me Margaret instead of Mags when you need my help?" she asked sounding almost like a disinterested observer.
That stopped me cold. I would never stoop to gratuitously calling her Margaret just to enlist her aid. It would be demeaning for both of us. Yet, I did call her Margaret. I called her that because it simply didn't seem appropriate to call her Mags. Something was going on with that I was not in touch with. But it would have to wait for another day. Today I needed to get this seminar under control.
She noticed that I was puzzling over this point and broke the silence by saying, "I didn't mean to distract you with that. Why don't you explain the concept of identity to me."
"In its simplest form, the concept of identity addresses the meanings we ascribe when we use the word 'same'. If I hold up two bottles of soda and ask you if they are the same, the reasoning that you apply to answer that question is what the concept of identity attempts to elucidate. If I had held up two bottles of Coke you would probably say they are the same. If I held up a bottle of Coke and a bottle of diet Coke you would probably say they are not the same. If you send me to the store for a diet Coke and I returned with a diet Pepsi, you may or may not feel that those two are the same. So the concept of identity is at the heart of how we organize our knowledge about the world."
Margaret sat impassively and waited for me to continue.
"Let's say that you put a Coke in the refrigerator today and come back tomorrow. You might ask if the Coke in the refrigerator is the same Coke that you left in there yesterday. When I hold up two Cokes they are the same. But if you put one Coke in the refrigerator today, and I replaced it with the other Coke you would say that they are not the same. In this second case, the concept of identity addresses the problem of persistence across time. When Heraclitus said that you cannot step in the same river twice he was raising an issue of identity."
"Interesting concept, but what does it have to do with information systems?"
"Well, the first example addresses the sameness of two distinct things and the second example addresses the sameness of a single thing over time. When people say that copying software is stealing they are saying that stealing and copying software are the same thing. Understanding the concept of identity makes it much easier to understand issues like software piracy."
"Do you have an example for the second?"
"Let's say that you make a purchase from a business on the web. You want to know if they are the same business that they were yesterday. In regular commerce you have buildings and salespeople that serve to reinforce identity. But in cyberspace all we have are malleable electronic bits. So how can you insure the continuity of identity."
"So identity is important for economical organization of knowledge and for our ability to rely on predictable behaviors." Margaret summarized.
For the ability to rely on predictable behaviors, I thought to myself. That was the problem. When a person had a false identity you could not reliably predict how they would behave. And when a person lacks an identity they probably don't even know themselves how they will behave or why they behave the way they do.
Margaret was commenting further on what I said, but seemed very far away. Patterns were emerging and fitting together at many levels. Margaret had said very little, but her parsimony allowed me to realize far more that I could possibly articulate.