The Hidden Interest in a Common European Identity

A common European identity is an important part of the European political lexicon; however, at the institutional level, it was taken seriously only when the economic crisis, the legal challenges of EU integration, and the Brexit story encouraged a fresh look into the problem. Moreover, the European identity problem may be viewed differently from the Western and Eastern European perspectives, which helps to identify the roots of contemporary “official” and “sociological” perceptions of a common European identity. The Standard Eurobarometer (EB) questionaries were used as a proxy to analyze the interest of the EU in a common European identity. We analyzed the types of questions asked from 2004 to 2020 and took a look at the responses. The shifts in the composition of the Standard EB questionaries signal that the “official” understanding of identity is gaining ground against the “sociological” approach. The promotion by official bodies of the EU of a one-sided understanding of a common European identity, based on the Western approach, narrows the field and creates certain risks. In the face of a permanent EU-ropean unity crisis, it would not be wise to lose one of the important instruments that could be successfully used to identify the hidden challenges of the future.

The Intuition behind the Non-Identity Problem

This paper examines a well-known non-identity case of a mother who chooses to conceive a blind child instead of a sighted one. While some people accept the non-identity argument and claim that we should reject the intuition that the mother’s act is morally wrong, others hold onto that intuition and try to find a fault in the non-identity argument. This paper proposes a somewhat middle approach. It is argued that the conclusion of the non-identity argument is not necessarily in conflict with our intuitive response to this case.

The Bullet-Biting Response to the Non-Identity Problem

According to the bullet-biting response to the non-identity problem: Given a choice between creating a well-off child, A, and a different child, B, that is significantly worse off than A, it is not impermissible to create B. David Boonin has presented an argument for the bullet-biting response. He claims that although the conclusion of his argument is implausible, the rejection of the argument is even more implausible. But Boonin’s argument is more implausible than he realizes. Three specific premises, together with the claim that creating a child cannot make that child better or worse off than she would otherwise have been, jointly entail that it is not impermissible to create children whose lives contain only pain and suffering. This is a damning objection to Boonin’s argument. I argue that this objection cannot be avoided without undermining the other premises of Boonin’s argument. Finally, I suggest a fairly weak moral principle that avoids the bullet-biting response. According The Weak Principle (WP): If you are choosing between only Act 1 and Act 2, then Act 1 is impermissible if (a) the outcome of Act 2 is significantly better than the outcome of Act 1, (b*) Act 2 wouldn’t cause anyone to incur a significant cost, and (c) Act 2 wouldn’t violate anyone’s rights.

Climate Change and Non-Identity

What is the practical relevance of the Non-Identity Problem (NIP) for our climate change-related duties? Climate change and the NIP are often discussed together, but there is surprisingly little work on the practical relevance of the NIP for the ethics of climate change. The central claim of this article is that the NIP makes a relatively minor difference to our climate change-related duties even if we pursue what has become known as the ‘bite the bullet’ strategy: endorse a person-affecting view threatened by the NIP and not modify it in such a way as to evade the NIP. In particular I will argue that a harm-based view can justify the big-picture call for action emerging from the field of climate ethics. The key to reaching this conclusion is pointing out the consequences of our climate change-related decisions for people whose existence does not depend on these very decisions.

Addressing the dual role identity problem in foster parenting

<p>This thesis argues that the foster parent dual role identity problem is due to value conflict between two implicit models that currently inform contemporary understandings of the role. Both implicit models are outlined; the ‘parent’ model as an extemporaneous development of mid-19th century early modern foster care, and the ‘professional’ model as a formal response to changes in role demands in the mid-20th century. While neither model can independently account for exemplary foster parenting practices, a hybrid model that integrates aspects from both is problematic due to divergent sets of values that underpin each conceptualisation. In response to the dual role identity problem, this thesis proposes an alternative model that is informed by reflective practice and a relational ethics perspective. The aim of this procedural practice model is to support and explicitly guide foster parents through those practice dilemmas that are frequently underpinned by value conflict. In summary, this thesis will discuss the implications of this procedural model for practice and training programmes.</p>

Addressing the dual role identity problem in foster parenting

<p>This thesis argues that the foster parent dual role identity problem is due to value conflict between two implicit models that currently inform contemporary understandings of the role. Both implicit models are outlined; the ‘parent’ model as an extemporaneous development of mid-19th century early modern foster care, and the ‘professional’ model as a formal response to changes in role demands in the mid-20th century. While neither model can independently account for exemplary foster parenting practices, a hybrid model that integrates aspects from both is problematic due to divergent sets of values that underpin each conceptualisation. In response to the dual role identity problem, this thesis proposes an alternative model that is informed by reflective practice and a relational ethics perspective. The aim of this procedural practice model is to support and explicitly guide foster parents through those practice dilemmas that are frequently underpinned by value conflict. In summary, this thesis will discuss the implications of this procedural model for practice and training programmes.</p>

Dietary traditions of ethnic communities of Belarus in relation to the national identity formation

Innovations in dietary traditions of the dwellers of the Republic of Belarus in contemporary period (late XX – early XXI) are in focus. Some directions in such innovations are shown; the role by crossborder migration influences is noted. The national identity problem is also discussed.

Beneficence, Non-Identity, and Responsibility: How Identity-Affecting Interventions in Nature can Generate Secondary Moral Duties

In chapter 3 of Wild Animal Ethics Johannsen argues for a collective obligation based on beneficence to intervene in nature in order to reduce the suffering of wild animals. In the same chapter he claims that the non-identity problem is merely a “theoretical puzzle” (p.32) which doesn’t affect our reasons for intervention. In this paper I argue that the non-identity problem affects both the strength and the nature of our reasons to intervene. By intervening in nature on a large scale we change which animals come into existence. In doing so, we enable harmful animals to inflict harms on other animals, and we put other animals in harm’s way. The harms that these animals will inflict and endure are foreseeable. Furthermore, since non-human animals aren’t moral agents, harmful animals cannot be morally responsible for their harmful actions. I argue therefore that by causing animals to exist, knowing that they will inflict and suffer harms, we become morally responsible for those harms. By engaging in identity-affecting actions then we take on secondary moral duties towards the animals we have thereby caused to exist, and these secondary moral duties may be extremely demanding, even more so than the initial costs of intervention. Finally, these duties are duties of justice rather than duties of beneficence, and as such are more stringent than purely beneficence-based moral reasons. Furthermore, this conclusion flows naturally from several plausible principles which Johannsen explicitly endorses.

A favorable moral and psychological climate of children’s creative team as a condition for determining students’ social identity

The paper characterizes the contribution of domestic and Western scientists to the study of social identity problem (A.V. Averchenko, I.V. Baryshnikova, L.V. Kalinina, A.V. Nechaev, D.P. Sidorenko, H. Arendt, J. Ranciere, H. Tajfel). The role of childrens creative team and favorable moral and psychological climate of childrens creative team in determining students social identity are outlined. The paper contains the results of the study of psychological climate of childrens creative team of the Russian folk instruments orchestra. The author also characterizes relations in the collective and students perception of themselves in the collective as members of the Russian folk instruments orchestra. The author also presents a process of formation of moral and psychological climate of childrens creative team in the context of value-meaningful and contextual approaches realization to create conditions for students social identity search and definition. The author has proposed types of lessons (informational, problem-based, discussion, double lecture, reflective, exploratory) and methods of educational and extracurricular creative activities that contribute to students social identity search and definition.

Caenorhabditis elegans Multi-Tracker Based on a Modified Skeleton Algorithm

Automatic tracking of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. egans) in standard Petri dishes is challenging due to high-resolution image requirements when fully monitoring a Petri dish, but mainly due to potential losses of individual worm identity caused by aggregation of worms, overlaps and body contact. To date, trackers only automate tests for individual worm behaviors, canceling data when body contact occurs. However, essays automating contact behaviors still require solutions to this problem. In this work, we propose a solution to this difficulty using computer vision techniques. On the one hand, a skeletonization method is applied to extract skeletons in overlap and contact situations. On the other hand, new optimization methods are proposed to solve the identity problem during these situations. Experiments were performed with 70 tracks and 3779 poses (skeletons) of C. elegans. Several cost functions with different criteria have been evaluated, and the best results gave an accuracy of 99.42% in overlapping with other worms and noise on the plate using the modified skeleton algorithm and 98.73% precision using the classical skeleton algorithm.