Ilami Yasna
Date of stay: May 1st - October 31st 2022
Affiliation: Institute of philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Research for a study about:
Philosophy in the public sphere / public philosophy
I am a final year PhD student in philosophy from Ukraine, currently a fellow at the University of Vienna and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences. I studied economics and entrepreneurship (MBA, Donetsk State University of Economics and Trade / University of Bradford, 2006), worked as a business analyst, founded a software development studio, published a book on small business and then switched to academic philosophy. My professional interests lay at the intersection of social epistemology, philosophy of a digital society, philosophy of war, and philosophical practice.
I got a BA degree in philosophy (Ukraine, Donetsk State University of Informatics and Artificial Intelligence, research topic “Social transformations in the age of virtualization and mediatization”, 2011), an MPhil in religious studies (Donetsk National Technical University, “The concept of subjectivity and its transformation in the digital society at the beginning of the XXI century”, 2013) and entered a PhD program in philosophy (Ukraine, Kyiv, Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences, 2018). In February 2022, I moved to the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, the Polish Academy of Sciences, and then to the Institute Vienna Circle, the University of Vienna, for a 6-month scholarship for Ukrainian refugee scholars (May-October 2022).
My PhD research focuses on the philosophy in the public sphere as a cultural phenomenon. I argue that philosophy, naturally being a strict and rational academic discourse, therefore, loses its initial meaning and passion outside the public life. I hope to devote my later career to philosophical practice, mainly conceptual engineering and therapy, as an emancipatory and healing routine. Meanwhile, I observe it theoretically from social epistemology and critical theory perspective, analysing which forms philosophy takes in the public discourse, how it influences the production of knowledge and truth and forms political consciousness.
Please see my Curriculum Vitae or personal website for the details.
Final Report
Final report
During the 6-month fellowship, I worked on my doctoral research, which I am conducting at the Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The abstract of my project is available on the Institute Vienna Circle site: wienerkreis.univie.ac.at/fellowships/present-ivc-fellows/ilami-yasna.
During the six-month fellowship, I completed the following tasks:
1) I made a presentation on the public role of philosophy at the beginning of the 21st century at the Department of Philosophy meeting (The University of Vienna, May 27th, 2022; see attachment 1).
2) I gave a presentation on specific forms philosophy takes in the public sphere, emphasizing the risk of its transformation into totalitarian ideologies The University of Vienna, June 28th, 2022; see attachment 2).
3) I discussed my research with Prof. Martin Kusch at two in-person meetings (June 13th and October 10th, 2022) and two email communications (June 26th and September 30th).
4) I had two discussions on my research with Ass.-Prof. M.A. Dr. Donata Romizi, according to which I clarified my research question and approach within the philosophical practice perspective.
5) In the University of Vienna library fund, I revised a broad range of literature related to the public sphere theories and recent papers on public philosophy (at the beginning of my fellowship) and totalitarian and postcolonial studies (in the later stage).
6) Following comments and suggestions of colleagues, consultations with Prof. Martin Kusch, and thematic reading, I updated my research approach and the structure of my doctoral thesis
and narrowed it to the public role of philosophy in totalitarian and colonial states in the case of post-soviet and contemporary Ukrainian philosophy (see attachment 3).
7) I received a notification about publishing my previously submitted article, “Forms of contemporary public philosophical discourse” (in Ukrainian). Part 1: doi.org/10.15421/1721124; Part 2: doi.org/10.15421/172231.
8) I participated in discussing seven doctoral projects within an academic seminar for doctoral students at the Faculty of Philosophy and Education of the University of Vienna, supervised by Prof. Martin Kusch.
9) During all term of my fellowship, I attended bi-monthly doctoral seminars within the Short-term mobility program for Ukrainian PhD students at the Graduate School for Social Research, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish Academy of Sciences.
10) In October 2022, I started Polish language classes at the Graduate School for Social Research, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish Academy of Sciences.