From the History of the Department

The Department of Theory of Culture and Philosophy of Science was founded in early July 1990. At the time the Department was the first one in the USSR pursuing the new conceptual theoretical subject matter, which the process of liberation from totalitarianism required having already begun in all spheres of life. The main concept of the Department was based on tacking the problem of the spirituality crisis of scientist-oriented European culture and the rationalistic paradigm in modern philosophy and science. The first Head of the Department was elected Professor Ivan Tsekhmistr, Doctor of Philosophy, academician of the Higher School Academy of Political Sciences of Ukraine, Corresponding Member of the Ukrainian Academy of Computer Sciences.

Faculty

The Faculty of the Department includes 7 full professors, 12 associate professors, a senior lecturer, 3 lecturers. There are 21 postgraduate students and 1 doctoral student working on their theses.

Research

Research Areas: holistic philosophy of science; gender studies; ludological cultural aspects; Orthodoxy and orthodox philosophy; philosophy of religion; theology; postmodernism (gnosiological, culturological, social aspects). The department has a laboratory of gender studies.

The complex research theme of the Department is «Problem of spirituality in science and culture» that belongs to the republican interuniversity program «Classics, Modernism, Postmodernism: Problem of Spirituality at the Turn of the Century». It includes both individual scientific and research works executed by the faculty of the Department and budget-funded scientific and research topics «Postmodernism and relational holism» (2000–2002), «Comparative Studies of Post-Modernist and Holistic Tendencies in Modern Philosophical Science and Culturology» (2003–2005), «Science and Religion Today and in Future» (2006–2008), «Science and Religion in the Epoch of Post-Modernism» (2009–2010), «Quantum Holism, Studies of its Background and Scope of Application» (2011–2012) exploited under supervision of Professor I. Tsekhmistr.

A significant achievement in the state-of-the-art trends of philosophy was creation and work of Kharkiv Centre for Gender Studies conducting considerable scientific work as well as methodological and organizational activities. The Laboratory of Gender Studies functioning at the Department of Theory of Culture and Philosophy of Science serves as a resource centre for regional university faculty, postgraduate and undergraduate students majoring in gender studies. One of the main resources of the Lab is its gender-themed library (1,000 editions in Russian and Ukrainian and over 300 ones in English). The library offers its serves to fourth and fifth-year students as well as postgraduates and faculty members whose research focuses on gender-related issues. The Lab hosts presentations in gender studies and acquaints students of the School of Philosophy with the Lab’s activities, the research opportunities it provides for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The Lab holds monthly meetings of Kharkiv City Youth Philosophical Seminar addressing gender-related issues.

Academics

The Department teaches philosophical and culturological disciplines at the School of Philosophy and at the Schools of the natural sciences profile of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. As far as the Schools of the natural sciences profile are concerned, these are primarily normative courses in philosophy (including logics and religious studies) and in history of Ukrainian and world culture. Besides the normative courses the Department has developed and teaches such optional and special culturological courses as Language of Music; History of Theatre; History of Artistic Culture of Ukraine; Fundamentals of Culturology; Sociocultural Aspects of Informatization of Society, Problem of Power: State, Society, Person; Problems of Spirituality in Science and Culture; and philosophical courses such as: Cognition and Reality; Philosophy of Science; Philosophy and Methodology of Natural Cognition and a number of others. The faculty of the School of Philosophy (Philosophy Division) teach courses: Ontology and Metaphysics; Gnoseology and Epistemology; Logics and Methodology of Scientific Cognition; Logics and Methodology of Natural Cognition; Philosophy of Science, etc.

In 2002 the School of Philosophy introduced the major «Culturology». Since then the Department has been a graduating one in the major «Culturology» offering students the main body of normative and special courses in the major. They include Ancient Culture; Culture of Medieval Ages and Renaissance; Culture of Ancient East (Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia); Orientalism (India, China, Japan, Tibet, Muslim East); Culture of Modern Age; ХІХ Century Culture; Modern Culture; Theory of Culture; Philosophy of Culture; Semiotics of Culture; Paradigms of Modern Culturology; Methodology of Teaching Culturological Disciplines; Introduction to Gender Theory.

Moreover, the Department covers the whole scope of academic activities (lectures, seminars, consultations, exams) in the courses of philosophy at the Schools of the natural sciences profile and within the candidate’s minimum program for postgraduates (degree-seeking students) of the Schools of the natural sciences profile and foreign postgraduate students.

The Department has at its disposal three rooms (Department’s room, office of the Head of the Department and faculty room), 2 computers and 1 printer.