Identity/function

["samba -" <sambacomet@hotmail.com>]

    I think this whole argument stumbles on the conflation of Identity 
with 
function. If I use a mule to pull a plow I may be likely to identify the 
mule by it's function,as a draft animal ie. a tool.I suspect the mule 
would 
be somewhat more inclined to identify itself as the victim of my urge to 
dominate.  I prefer to define Identity as  self definition ,whereas 
labelling something by it's function has nothing to do with identity ,it 
has 
to do with the desire of some human for utility in manipulating the world. 
Of course modern humans tend to distinguish between beings and things,as 
such tools would be considered to have no sense of self,hence no identity. 
Ths is part of why boot camp strips budding soldiers of their sense of 
identity,so it will be easier to utilise them as tools.