December 23, Monday, at 6 pm (Kyiv time)
6pm (Eastern European Time, EET) / 5pm (CET).
Speakers:
Orysya Bila is the Chair of Philosophy and the Director of the Master's Program in Theology at Ukrainian Catholic University. She holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Theology from Ukrainian Catholic University and completed her doctoral degree in Philosophy at Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University. Her research interests include the philosophical legacy of Michel Foucault, ethics and global political theory, the ethics of memory, as well as Christian theology in a postmodern context.
Joshua Duclos is the Form of 1923 Chair in Humanities at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire. A former Fulbright scholar in Eastern Europe, he holds advanced degrees in philosophy from University of Chicago (A.M.) and Boston University (Ph.D.). He is the author of Wilderness, Morality, and Value (Lexington Books, 2022). His research interests include value theory, communitarian political thought, and environmental philosophy.
Seminar Title: "Philosophy in Crisis: Exploring the Role of Democratic Thought in Wartime Ukraine"
Seminar Description: This research seminar presents the findings of the article "Utopia, Dystopia, and Democracy: Teaching Philosophy in Wartime Ukraine" by Orysya Bila and Joshua Duclos (Link address: https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/spe/article/view/24411/18568). The authors will share their experiences and arguments on the instrumental and intrinsic values of teaching philosophy in a country facing profound challenges.
Key topics include:
- The role of philosophy in cultivating democratic habits of thought and action.
- Philosophy as a means of opposing authoritarianism and fostering resilience.
- The potential of philosophical inquiry to offer consolation and inspire creative societal transformation.
The seminar will explore the authors' reflections on the ethical, cultural, and political dimensions of philosophy during the war. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss how these insights can contribute to academic and civic discourse in other contexts of crisis.
