The Identity of Freedom and Morality

This chapter offers an interpretation of Kant’s problematic claim that there is a deep and underlying unity and identity between freedom and morality, which identity underlies the categorical imperative. It is standard to say that there is a problem in Kant’s account of the relationship between freedom and morality. The problem is that, at times, Kant uses freedom to ground belief in morality, but that, at other times, he uses morality to ground belief in freedom, opening himself up to the suspicion that nothing outside of this small loop is grounding either commitment. It is argued that this seeming problem disappears if we consider freedom and morality, and the grounds for believing in them, to be different aspects of a single claim, whereby freedom and morality in a fundamental sense are the same, albeit that our limited finite nature encounters them as distinct. The chapter suggests that there is no vicious circle in Kant’s thought, but rather different aspects of a non-obvious identity claim. Theology, I suggest, is familiar with such non-obvious identity claims.

Trieste and Louis Adamic’s Transnational Identities

By examining Slovene immigrant to the United States and world-renowned author Louis Adamic’s effort to mediate between his Yugoslav and American identities, this article helps us to think what having a transnational identity means. By focusing on Adamic’s writings about Trieste and Italy in general, the article shows how he transitioned from being a disaporic leader during World War II to an anti-colonialist from 1946–1951. Examining Adamic’s activist stances regarding Trieste helps us to think about transnationalism beyond a single cross-border movement or an individual’s identity claim at a specific moment. Adamic’s effort to convince the U.S. government that Yugoslavia should control Trieste allows us to see how transnationalism operated as an identity in flux.

The Conflict of Rigidity and Precision in Designation

My paper provides reasons in support of the view that vague identity claims originate from a conflict between rigidity and precision in designation. To put this stricly, let x be the referent of the referential terms P and Q. Then, that the proposition “that any x being both a P and a Q” is vague involves that the semantic intuitions at work in P and Q reveal a conflict between P and Q being simultaneously rigid and precise designators. After having shortly commented on an example of vague identity claim, I make the case for my proposal, by discussing how reference by baptism conflicts with descriptive attitudes towards understanding conceptual contents.

Aiolian Land

This chapter examines the role which Mytilene’s peraia in coastal Aiolis played in shaping elite Mytilenaian identity in the first century BC/AD. It is argued that, in this period, Mytilenaian elites began to privilege the Aiolian aspect of their identity over the Lesbian aspect in response to a long-running dispute over Mytilene’s right to its peraia in Aiolis (disputed by neighbouring cities on the mainland) and the tax status of this territory (disputed by the publicani). Although this dispute was probably resolved for good early in the reign of Augustus, under subsequent Julio-Claudian emperors Mytilenaian elites continued to promote the idea that Mytilene was the metropolis of the Aiolians and therefore had a natural right to territory on the mainland. This is seen most prominently in the assimilation of Agrippina the Elder and later Agrippina the Younger to Thea Aiolis Karpophoros, and the fortuitous discovery that Mytilene could both assert its right to the peraia and honour prominent members of the imperial family by emphasizing its Aiolian identity in part explains the continued popularity of this identity claim. By contrast, these ideas appear to have been of no interest to Methymna and Eresos. While in part this reflects the fact that neither city possessed a peraia in Aiolis, it may also be significant that they belonged to a different conventus to Mytilene and thus Roman rule framed their identities in quite different ways.

Not quite neo-sentimentalism

The view that some evaluative concepts are identical to some affective concepts naturally falls out of neo-sentimentalism, but it is unstable. This paper argues for a view of evaluative concepts that is neo-sentimentalist in spirit but which eschews the identity claim. If we adopt a Peacockean view of concepts, then we should think of some evaluative concepts as having possession conditions that are affective in some way. I argue that the best version of this thought claims that possessing those concepts requires being rationally compelled to form evaluative beliefs in response to certain emotions.

Ethnic and Regional Ferment in Iran

This chapter demonstrates how the identity claim is restricted to its cultural dimension. Claims are indeed limited to cultural activism and translate into an editorial and associative fever. Two paths explain the disparities in intensity of demands in ethnic conflicts. The first path takes into account both the specificity and the liveliness of cultural identities: the greater the gap between the ways of being and the attitudes of a given group, and those that are expressed at the core of the nation, the more pronounced such differences will be, the more intense the friction, and the more vehement the claims. The second path suggests an opposite move: rather than starting from groups and their cultural differences, the idea is to start from the state, its very nature and its acceptance of differences. The chapter then considers the situation of minorities in the Iranian state and looks at the case of Gilân, a province of northern Iran.

Becoming a graduate: the warranting of an emergent identity

Purpose – With expansion of higher education in most developed and developing economies, graduates constitute a large section of the workforce. However, even prior to the economic problems of the past few years, the transition from higher education into graduate employment has not been and is not straightforward. The purpose of this paper is to draw upon relational, social constructionist perspectives to examine such transition and early careers in terms of “emergent identity” trajectories. The “graduate identity” is considered in terms of the interaction between identity claim by the individual and the identity ascriptions by others. Design/methodology/approach – A model is presented, providing for five “modalities” of such emergent identity, whereby any particular individual may pass in varied trajectories. This is illustrated by three case examples of graduates, based on biographical interview data. The exploration is continued in terms of discussion of the discursive warranting of identity claims and ascriptions, enabling a reconsideration of the discourse of skills and attributes. Implications for research and practice are considered. Findings – The paper argues that the approach presented provides a cogent approach for conceptualising and for engaging in empirical investigation of the early career trajectories of individuals entering post-graduation employment. Such individuals may “formally” be graduates, but face the task of “becoming” graduates, i.e. gaining acceptance by significant others that they are “worthy” of being employed in “graduate jobs”. That task involves identity claim making, warranting their claim on the identity of a graduate. Research limitations/implications – The model and approach presented provide a framework for analysis of early-career trajectories of graduates, in a way that the dominant skills and attributes approach cannot. It contributes to other empirical studies based on qualitative, biographical research, by providing conceptual tools for the analysis of such studies. Practical implications – The paper provides a practical approach to help undergraduates and new graduates to enhance their prospects for gaining employment they consider desirable and appropriate. It enables staff who seek to support students to gain appropriate employment to develop practical strategies, unencumbered by flawed notion of “skills” and “attributes”. Social implications – Post-graduation employment continues to be a major policy issue for government, and a matter of considerable concern for students themselves and for their families. The approach presented promises considerable opportunity for addressing the critical issues faced. Originality/value – The paper elaborates the graduate identity approach, and provides empirical support for the claims made.