Seminar: “Is All the World a Stage?”

July 3, 2018

A Bookstore of the Old Lion Publishing House, Dnipro

I conducted this seminar in the framework of the Summer Philosophical School of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University. There were young people interested in different areas of knowledge, such as philosophy, philology, psychology, law, economics, and history. I told them about what had fascinated me when I was young. I talked about the topic of my PhD thesis, which I had formulated when I was a fifth-year student in 1999 and defended after my doctoral program in 2005. I talked about spectacular theories—that is, philosophical ideas that compare the world and theater. The seminar participants and I addressed these ideas in a historical and philosophical manner. I read out fragments of the works of Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Kant, Skovoroda, Nietzsche, Debord, and Baudrillard, and then we all discussed these ideas together. An active and interesting discussion lasted for more than four hours. We talked not only about these spectacular theories but also about what philosophy is for a young researcher. I talked about why I had selected philosophy as a profession as well as the difficulties and positive things faced by those who are just beginning their journey in the study of philosophy.