The Ego Trick (baggini, Julian) / quote 204 of 254
We are what we do
‘We are responsible for our actions not because they are our products but because they are us, because we are what we do.’9 However, her view is not an excessively romantic one. Self-creation is not heroic but necessary. ‘Every human being must make himself into someone in particular, in order to have reasons to act and live. Carving out a personal identity for which we are responsible is one of the inescapable tasks of human life.’10 Indeed, in order to do this, we have to adopt ‘practical identities’ which will define us socially, and these may be radically contingent.