November 25, Monday, at 6 pm (Kyiv time)

Speaker:

Olena Olifer

Assistant Lecturer of the Philosophy Department

Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University

Title: Social Dimensions of Practical Identity

The problem of identity, i.e., the question "Who are we?", was of great importance in social and political discourses in the twentieth century. When Ukraine gained its independence, the question of identity was posed by the Ukrainian nation for the first time. For more than 30 years, Ukrainian scholars have studied changes in the identity of the Ukrainian people. Nowadays, as Ukraine struggles for survival, the category of identity remains a topical issue, since identity tends to involve the uniqueness of a person in social discourse.

Personal identity has a long tradition of study. As an explicit philosophical problem, it has been explored since J. Locke. Today, analytic philosophy offers to consider a shift from the metaphysical aspects of personal identity to practical ones. This new framework for studying personal identity may be extremely helpful in analyzing the changes in the identity of Ukrainian people as they have transformed from civilians into military personnel.

While studying the problem of identity, attention should also be paid to the social dimension. Contemporary Ukrainian philosophers have developed their own socio-philosophical views on identity, which should be synthesized with the practical framework of personal identity suggested by analytic philosophers.

Keywords: personal identity, agency, person, practical identity, social identity, social role, narrative.