Scholars have long argued that social normativity—the generation, maintenance, and enforcement of shared meanings of right and wrong across different places and times—enables the individual to develop a personal identity as a thinking subject with agency. Mihnea Chiujdea, a philosopher at Freie Universität Berlin, studies this notion of personal identity and has just won the German Research Foundation’s (DFG) Walter Benjamin Fellowship and a book contract with Bloomsbury Academic to elaborate on key new aspects of the framework.

Currently a visiting research fellow at FU Berlin’s Institute of Philosophy under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dina Emundts, Chiujdea first came to Berlin from London to pursue a doctoral degree, which he has recently completed. In addition to his research on the question of personal identity, Chiujdea designed and led two BUA-funded X-Student Research Groups on social ontology, examining contemporary forms of xenophobia. In Reductionism: from the Personal to the Political, MA and advanced BA students studied population-replacement conspiracy theories together with Chiujdea, applying insights from his doctoral research on personal identity and philosophy of mind. In a follow-up X-Student Research Group, Ontological Threats: Defensive Racism in the European New Right, students analyzed new forms of racism developed by the New Right since 1945 in Europe. Both seminars closed with a conference for participants to present their findings, hear talks, and receive feedback from leading scholars in the field. “Leading these X-Student Research Groups,” reflects Chiujdea, “has been a great experience that provided me with a wide range of extremely valuable skills for an early-career researcher, from organizing conferences to research-based teaching methods and supervising independent research.”

Discussions and explorations in the X-Student Research Group, together with his doctoral dissertation, were precursors to the proposals that landed Chiujdea the DFG fellowship and Bloomsbury book deal. The latter, a monograph titled Heidegger and Parfit against Personal Identity. Reflections on Reductionism, Agency and Originary Temporality, examines the question of personal identity. “It asks what is necessary and sufficient for a person at one time to be the same as a person at another,” the author explains. Chiujdea’s argument adopts an innovative angle, critiquing the assumptions underlying the question.

The postdoctoral project funded through the Walter Benjamin program, takes up a central problem: how individuals can do more than simply repeat norms, if engaging in social norms indeed constitutes human beings, preceding our very ability to reflect on norms. Chiujdea will set out to describe the room for maneuver that social normativity allows, hypothesizing that uncanny experiences play an important role in this. In doing so, he lays out a new philosophical investigation of the uncanny, with the aim of “providing a new perspective on our existence, highlighting the finitude and transformability of our being,” he explains.

Workshops in London and Potsdam will inform the scholar’s postdoctoral research, and he hopes to continue collaborating with Berlin universities. “BUA offers a unique ecosystem that contributes fantastic research and learning opportunities,” Chiujdea remarks, adding that he appreciates Berlin’s vibrant and tolerant atmosphere while acknowledging challenges of funding cuts and academic politics. He also reflects on fond memories of the Staatsbibliothek at Unter den Linden and an “embarrassingly comprehensive knowledge of how to get in on busy days,” and at Teufelssee, where he relaxes and lets his mind wander.