Teaching philosophy. is conducted at Lviv. un-ti since its foundation. In October 1940, the department of dialectics. and history of materialism was established and the study of Marxist. philosophy was introduced. Courses in logic, history of philosophy and psychology were also taught.

In 1947–48, the department of philosophy was established. The heads of the department were professors A. Braginets, B. Kublanov, T. Starchenko. In 1988, T. Starchenko was replaced as head of the department of philosophy by Andriy Ivanovych Pashuk.

Since 1992, the department of philosophy has been restored, the department has become the base for training specialists in the specialty of philosophy.

In 1995, the department was divided into two: philosophy and history of philosophy. The department of philosophy. is a graduating one. Training was held at the qualification levels of bachelor, specialist, master. Graduates receive the specialty of Philosophy. Teacher of Philosophy.

The staff of the department in 1997-2006 conducted scientific research on two research topics: 1. Civil society as the exercise of freedom: social, legal and religious aspects (head – head of the department A. Karas). 2. Philosophy as a theory and methodology of science (head – prof. V. Lysy).

As a result of the research, the teachers of the department introduced a number of special courses for students of philosophy and economics.

A monograph was published: Karas A. F. “Philosophy of civil society in classical theories and non-classical interpretations” (K.-Lviv, 2004. – 520 p.), doctoral dissertations of Karas A. F. were defended; Odushkina O. V (in Warsaw), and 9 candidate dissertations in the context of two research topics.

Published translations of scientific works: Thinkers of German Romanticism / Compiled by Leonid Rudnytskyi and Oleg Feshovets. – Ivano-Frankivsk, 2003. – 588 p. J. Mitchell. Feminism and Psychoanalysis / Trans. from English. I. Dobropas. – Lviv, 2004. – 477 p. Richard Anderson. Discursive Origin of Dictatorship and Democracy / Trans. A. Karasya // Universum. Journal of Political Science, Economics, Science and Culture. – 2003. – No. 7-10.

In the process of implementing research topics, conferences were held and collections were published: 1) int. conf. Civil Society as the Implementation of Freedom: Central and Eastern European Experience, a collection of the same name was published. works with the participation of scientists from abroad (Lviv, 1999. – 383 p.); 2) Hegel’s Philosophy and Modernity (collection of works with the same title, Lviv, 2002. – 160 p.); 3) Civil Society and Social Transformations in Ukraine, based on the materials of the conference, a collection of theses was published (Lviv, 2003. – 136 p.). 4) Civil Society as the Implementation of Freedom. Collection of Scientific Works. Third Edition. – Lviv: Ivan Franko Lviv National University, 2006. – 290 p. (With the participation of many scientists from Poland).

In general, the department has published over 150 scientific articles and theses of conference presentations during this period.

The theoretical work of the research is an independent scientific concept of civil society in general and in Ukraine in particular. It is based on a semiotic-discursive approach. It is established that civil society is constituted by such a form of sociality that is formed under the influence of the expression of individual freedom and intends a democratic form of governance, which is associated with the corresponding semantics of discursive-ethical practices and their communicative, humanitarian-cultural and social implementation. Attention is focused on the analysis of: 1) the philosophy of civil society as an interpretation of freedom and sociality in relation to power and governance; 2) the discursive-ethical stages of civic progress in Ukraine; 3) the nature of civic identity; 4) the dependence of civil society institutions on the discursive practices of freedom-authenticity, clientelism-paternalism and anarchism-nihilism, which are elements of its structure; 5) the phenomena of the exercise of freedom in the French and Polish discourses of postmodernism; 6) definition of the “discursive barrier” on the path of civic progress in Ukraine and means of overcoming it; 7) discursive barriers on the path of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union are outlined.

Since 2006, the team of scientists of the department has been carrying out a research project in the direction of “Paradigms of Modern Thinking”, which has grown into the title: “Transformation of Paradigms of Thinking and Concepts of Knowledge in Modern Philosophy” (head – Prof. A. Karas).

Under this title, an international interdisciplinary conference was held in 2007. A collection of abstracts of the same name was published (Lviv: Ivan Franko Academic Center of Lviv National University, 2007. – 160 p.).

In 2008, the work was published: “Philosophy. Cognition. Science. Monograph. – Lviv: Ivan Franko Academic Center of Lviv National University, 2008. – 252 p.

Prof. Kashuba M.V. prepared a scientific brochure: “Socio-philosophical analysis of social development”. – Lviv, 2008. – 68 p.

In June 2010 – a large International interdisciplinary conference “Man and his identity in the age of globalization” was held with the participation of about 120 scientists from Ukraine and abroad. A collection of materials of the same name was published (Lviv: Ivan Franko Lviv National University, 2010. – 302 p.), you can get acquainted with them on the department’s website: http://www.lnu.edu.ua/faculty/Phil/phil_news_ukr.htm http://www.lnu.edu.ua/faculty/Phil/Kaf_fil_conf_2010/Tezy_conf_filos_2010.pdf

In September 2011, an international seminar “A. Schopenhauer’s Philosophy and Modernity” was held with the participation of more than 40 scientists from Ukraine and abroad, in particular from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Romania, Slovakia. A collection of scientific papers is being prepared for publication.

Based on the results of the research, the department’s teachers published chapters in: Theses of the Reported Scientific Conference of the Faculty of Philosophy. – Lviv: Publishing Center of Ivan Franko National University, 2008. – Issue 5., also similar issues 6, 2009, issue 7, 2010, issue 8, 2011.

During the period of implementation (01.02.2009 – 1.12.2011) of the scientific research topic “Transformation of paradigms of thinking and concepts of knowledge in modern philosophy”, scientific materials were developed and analytical results were obtained in three problem areas:

Globalization and post-non-classical paradigm. It was determined that the anthropological turn in philosophy of the early twentieth century led to the transformation of the classical understanding of the subject and caused dynamic social changes caused by human orientations to free self-realization. This places the requirement of reproducible (sustainable) development before the world community; its factors are traced in the “pragmatization of practice”, or the creation of a new global communicative space, which is formed due to the public application of reason and the formation of the corresponding discursive and ethical practice; This is also accompanied by a post-nonclassical paradigm of the development of scientific knowledge and education, such a semiotic conditioning of the common life world, which increasingly depends on communicative rationality.
Identity and self-realization. The development of modern forms of identity is based on: a cultural orientation towards free self-realization of the individual, a prevailing, in particular, extreme, worldview anthropocentrism; religious forms of self-awareness compete with secular and parareligious ones. A significant transformation of the understanding of man, his selfhood and consciousness is taking place. It is advisable to consider man not in terms of his “natural essence”, but as the idea of ​​man, the substantive characteristics of which depend on the contextuality of the interpretation and perception of such basic prerequisites of existence, which are determined by the exercise of freedom, democracy, consumption and reproduction of energy and resources, human rights and civil rights. In the world and in Ukraine, the humanitarian, civic and political movement around the problems of national and ethnic identities remains relevant, however, the trend towards a civic type of identity is becoming increasingly obvious.
Rational practices and irrational motives. The problem of the correlation of rational and irrational paradigms of philosophy in the aspects of their interaction and influence on intellectual, cultural, social and epistemic searches in the 20th century is determined. It is established that the definition of the philosophy of irrationalism, widespread in Ukraine, is interpreted mostly inadequately to its modern understanding and should be supplemented by terminological expansion in the aspect of distinguishing rational, irrational and irrational worldviews. The development of the communicative paradigm of philosophy on the basis of communicative pragmatics and its implementation in the ethics of responsibility was analyzed, the features of the virtualization of education in the context of globalization were clarified, a comparison of the ontological concepts of Eastern philosophy was made regarding its approach to knowledge and consciousness and its influence on European ontology of the 19th-20th centuries. The phenomenon of Orientalism, the immanence and transcendence of man in modern anthropological philosophy, changes in patterns of gender thinking and behavior under the influence of social and cultural transformations occurring in postmodern culture were studied.

In addition, within the framework of the implementation of the topic, the members of the scientific team studied:

a). The phenomenon of Orientalism and the role of the Orientalist in the formation of the view on the Middle East among Western European intellectuals. The results of the research are the manuscript of the defended dissertation “Discursive Practice of Orientalism: Sociocultural Representations of the Other” (specialty “Social Philosophy and Philosophy of History – 09.00.03”),

b). The possibility of a phenomenological description of mystical experience. It is substantiated that in the terms of E. Husserl’s phenomenology this description is impossible, which suggests the existence of non-intentional states of consciousness and the need to expand the terminological apparatus of phenomenology;

c). Problems of the progress of modern anthropology, namely dynamic anthropology. Dynamic anthropology or the anthropology of changes and conflicts focuses on the sources and changes in the development of human life. The importance of the study of dynamic anthropology is that the possibility of analyzing the nature of changes and conflicts in the modern development of Ukrainian reality will help to understand the vectors of progress of the Ukrainian community, since according to the forecasts of Western institutions, Ukraine can be attributed to states with a high probability of social conflicts.

In the context of the implementation of the ideas and hypotheses of the research topic: – the scientific potential of famous scientists from abroad was involved: P. Kemp (Denmark), M. Bonnafou-Boucher (France), P. Kozlowski (Germany), E. Alam (Lebanon), J. McLean (USA), V. Glukhman (Slovakia) and many others.

In particular, translations of the works were published: Kemp Peter. Rethinking philosophy as the power of the word / Trans. from English and scientific ed. A. Karas // Bulletin of the Lviv National University. Series. Philosophical Sciences. – 2008. – No. 11. – P. 7–14. Bonnafou-Boucher Maria, Peske Yvon. Theory of joint-stock company as a weakened theory of civil society / Trans. from English and scientific ed. A. Karas // Bulletin of the Lviv National University. Series. Philosophical Sciences. – 2009. – No. 12. – P. 124–144.

The results of the scientific research are published in the textbook “Philosophy of Sustainable Development”, prepared by Assoc. Prof. Ryzhak L. V. (as well as in the collective monograph “Philosophy in the 20th Century: The Search for a New Paradigm”, which is in the process of preparation).

In general, over the six-year period of implementation of the topic by the team of scientists of the Department of Philosophy (without involving the work of scientists from Ukraine and abroad), about 300 scientific works have been published: of them – three textbooks and manuals, a monograph, two collections of materials, four collections of theses, more than 10 articles in foreign publications, four candidate dissertations have been defended.

Postgraduate studies. Postgraduate. at the Department of operates in two areas: Social Philosophy and History of Philosophy – 09.00.03 and Ontology, Epistemology, Phenomenology – 09.00.01. Educational and scientific publications. Since 1996, the teachers of the department have published over 300 scientific and prepared over 100 educational and methodological works. A small part of the teachers are authors of manuals on philosophy. The subject and problems of philosophy and authors of monographic research. Assoc. Prof. L. Ryzhak published a textbook “Philosophy as a Reflection of the Spirit” with a corresponding reading material for university students (Lviv, 2009. – 640p.); Philosophy of Sustainable Development. – Lviv, 2011.

Every year, the department holds reporting scientific conferences, in which teachers and graduate students participate. The department holds a permanent theoretical seminar twice a month.

The department also has an open interdisciplinary seminar “Semiotics of Socio-Cultural Processes” (head – Prof. Karas A. F., academic secretary – Assoc. Prof. Losyk O. M.)

In general, the faculty and postgraduate students of the department took part in over 200 conferences, including abroad: Prof. A. Karas – in the USA (Chicago 1996, Washington, 1997, 1998, 2001), in Poland, 2000, 2001; in Russia (Moscow, 2000), in London 2001, in Germany (Munich 1993, 1996, 2001, 2011), in Turkey and the Republic of Korea (World Philosophical Congresses in Istanbul, 2003 and Seoul, 2008), Congress in Berlin 2005, conference in Shanghai 2009; asst. Vysochansky R. in Poland and Washington 2009; asst. Losyk O. in many conferences in Poland and Slovakia; asst. Pukhta I., O. Odushkin – in Poland; assoc. prof. Polyarush B. in Münster (Germany, 2010).