Chair of Ontology and Theory of knowledge

Head of the chair — Dr. Alexandr Dyakov

Ontology and the theory of knowledge (gnoseology) are the most ancient philosophic disciplines. Philosophy begins with the attempt to fathom, firstly, the most basic principles of being and, secondly, problems of conditions and possibilities of knowledge. The first group of problems forms the sphere of ontology, and the second one outlines the domain of the theory of knowledge. From the very beginning of the European philosophic tradition up to the present day one can find a close link between the main foundational ontological and gnoseological categories of «being» and «thinking», «what is» and «what is true», «nature» and «meaning».

Today the accent in the philosophic understanding of being has shifted to the «life world (Lebenswelt)» of man. Thus the human being becomes the central focus of the new ontology, while gnoseological investigations concentrate on the problems of understanding of what is called «the meaning of being». The specific nature of human existence strongly depends on degrees and levels of self-perception. Thus the specific understanding of essence of being becomes the basis of being itself.

Special and Elective courses

• Main concepts of ontology
• Ontology and theory of knowledge
• Philosophy of humanitarian knowledge
• Structures of the everyday in Historical Anthropology
• Ontological basis of stable development
• Ontology of possible worlds
• Strategies of communication
• Phenomenology of thought
• Philosophy of language
• Practical nature of truth
• Ontology of myth
• Reading as a question of hermeneutics
• History and analytics of sexuality

Head: Dr. Alexandr Dyakov
Room: 126
Phone number: +7(812)328-94-21, add.: 1845
E-mail