Abstract

We will, hereby, deal with the meaning of the word «identity» from a philosophical perspective particularly related with Politics. The main aim of the paper is to determine in what sense the idea of a European political identity would be meaningful, which first of all will lead us to ascertain the meaning of the expression «political identity». It will be defended that a political identity is primarily collective, and that the limits of a specific political collective are defined by a process of reciprocal identification between individuals, regarding typically historical facts: respect of the past (not necessarily common), cultural relationship in a present time (consequently shared), and projection to the future (from an individual commitment). From this analysis, it will be showed to what extent we can pertinently refer to a «European identity» instead of «European identities», and this regarding the idea of «people», and also paying attention to the matter of the political form.