The article aims to provide a philosophical analysis of the anthropological approach to the identity study. Through the application of diachronic analysis and content analysis to the works of anthropologists who are theorists of identity, we have highlighted various historical, methodological, and philosophical aspects of the topic. These aspects include the history of the conceptualization of the term «identity» in anthropology, the correlation between the concepts of «identity» and «character», the analytical significance of the «identity» concept in anthropological works, and the methodological foundations of the anthropological understanding of identity. The result of the philosophical analysis is the identification of both the advantages and disadvantages of the anthropological approach to the identity study. On one hand, it emphasizes the significance of material and cultural aspects of human existence and highlights the distinction between the practical use of «identity» and its theoretical understanding within the academic community. On the other hand, it tends to reduce the individual to the collective.