第85回龍谷大学大会 International Session “The Challenge of Philosophy: From the Perspective of Polish and Ukrainian Scholars”
- Speaker 1: Dr. Aleksandra Ross (Independent Researcher, Poland)
- Moderator: Dr. Kono Tetsuya (Rikkyo University)
- Speaker 2: Dr. Sergii Geraskov (Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine)
- Moderator: Dr. Naoe Kiyotaka (Tohoku University)
Every year, the International Session has focused on non-Western philosophy, and this year, our interest will turn to philosophy from non-Western European cultures. Dr. Aleksandra Ross from Poland and Dr. Sergii Geraskov from Ukraine will speak about how philosophy should tackle the challenges it currently faces. Through her work with the “Environmental Humanities Project”, Dr. Ross will explore the methodological possibilities of non-Western European philosophies as an alternative to the previously dominant Western philosophy. Meanwhile, Dr. Geraskov from Ukraine will ask the difficult question of how philosophers should respond to the protracted Russia-Ukraine war.
Speaker 1: Dr. Aleksandra Ross “Decolonizing Environmental Knowledge: Key Insights from the Non-Western Approaches in Environmental Humanities Project“
This presentation examines the theoretical and methodological outcomes of the international conference Non-Western Approaches in Environmental Humanities (University of Warsaw, 2022) and the resulting 2025 publication. The project emerged from critical recognition that environmental humanities discourse has been predominantly shaped by North American and Western European frameworks, often marginalizing alternative epistemologies and regional perspectives essential for addressing global environmental crises.
The conference engaged with “non-western” in two complementary dimensions: first, as alternatives to mainstream theoretical frameworks, encompassing perspectives from the Global South, indigenous cultures, and historically marginalized intellectual traditions; second, as locally-grounded research approaches, with particular emphasis on Eastern European contexts. This dual conceptualization proved productive for decolonizing knowledge production in environmental humanities while maintaining analytical rigor and avoiding essentialist categorizations.
The project demonstrated that decolonizing environmental humanities is not merely an ethical imperative but an analytical necessity. Western-centric frameworks often fail to account for diverse human-environment relationships shaped by different historical trajectories, cosmologies, and material conditions. This presentation will synthesize the conference outcomes, highlighting how non-Western approaches enrich environmental humanities methodology while addressing challenges of cross-cultural translation and collaborative knowledge production.
Speaker 2: Dr. Igor Sikorsky “Either/Or: How Ukrainian Philosophy and Philosophers Survive in Times of War“
The 20th century became a definitive watershed for philosophy. It demonstrated the impossibility for intellectuals to remain detached from the political exigencies of their era by seeking refuge in the depths of fundamental ontology or abstract metaphysics. The Russian-Ukrainian war has upended nearly all prior conceptions of warfare while bringing an extraordinarily broad range of philosophical inquiries to the forefront. How should academia, particularly in social sciences and humanities, respond to critical situations? Can intellectuals afford to remain neutral during a war? Should philosophers keep silent in turbulent times? This presentation examines how Ukrainian philosophy transcends academic abstraction to become a tool for survival and resilience during the war. As the state moves toward a fundamental restructuring of legal and intellectual frameworks to align with European values, philosophers are confronting a critical choice: neutrality or engagement. I analyze the shift from “pure theory” to an “ethics of presence,” where intellectuals address the trauma of war and the defense of human dignity. By integrating philosophical discourse into social crises, Ukrainian thinkers redefine their role not as observers, but as architects of a resilient, democratic future.
