Who's who?

During the 16th and 17th century, decision of the church was taken supreme as well as the knowledge based on experience. With the progress to 18th century, the funda became of combining experience plus experimentation. It became important to break down things to simpler facts with a reason behind every event.
The 18th century came to be known as the age of enlightenment that advocated the use of reason in the re-evaluation of accepted ideas and social institutions. This particular time period is marked as beginning of modernity (condition of being modern) or as Immanuel Kant calls ‘a break from the past’.

The way knowledge was acquired formed an important characteristic for condition of being modern. It puts us in a state of continual analysis of circumstances and fact finding based on pattern of science.

With more and more influx of knowledge, and ability to collect and store every bit of knowledge in form other than written created possibility of higher level of reflexivity.

The concept of reflexivity can be defined as a cyclic process of reflection of thought and action on to each other, for one to justify the other according to Anthony Giddens analysis of modernity. As a result of this, truth of today may not be the truth of tomorrow. Reacting to all this, a modern society experiences change at a very rapid rate which brings in the character of uncertainty/ impermanence.

This change/ uncertainty brought in by modern life makes the issue of identity so important.