Collaborative Philosophical Quests. Cooperation between YSU and the Catholic University of Leuven is being strengthened

Cooperation between the two universities

Yerevan State University and the Catholic University of Leuven cooperate within the framework of the "Erasmus+" faculty mobility program. During the 8 years of cooperation, Levon Babajanyan and Axel Gosieres had mutual visits and lectures on various topics related to philosophy. "How to do Practical Philosophy?" English-language lecture series is another joint program, within the framework of which A. Gosieres visited YSU for the third time at L. Babajanyan's invitation.

Emphasizing long-term cooperation in the conversation with us, Levon Babajanyan noted, "Axel Gosieres is a theorist of philosophy and law, we both deal with political philosophy, ethics, and applied philosophy in general. Apart from philosophy, we also have other scientific interests, thanks to which strong partnership ties have been formed."

Invited speaker A. Gosieres, referring to the partnership relations of the universities, emphasized that choosing YSU for cooperation was not accidental.

"Yerevan State University is the leader in the field of philosophy in Armenia and has the most students, moreover, professional and personal contacts with Levon Babajanyan open the doors of further collaborations," said A. Gosieres.

Course format and content

The topic of the five-day course was decided by the speakers' discussion. It was devoted to the research methods of applied philosophy, which are most popular among Western philosophical thought. The correlation of facts, concepts, values, and norms in ethical justifications was discussed. The program was equipped with both meaningful lectures and practical tasks (group, oral and written works, problem solutions, and interpretations).

The course was conducted by the guest speaker, and Levon Babajanyan interpreted and explained the concepts and their ideological provisions because the ideas about applied philosophy sometimes differ.

15 students of the YSU philosophy department from the 4th year of Undergraduate, Master's, and Postgraduate studies participated in the lectures.

Axel Gosieres emphasized that working with the same students in all lectures is effective because they have a complete understanding of the theoretical and practical components of the subject. He also noted that the technical equipment of YSU facilitated training.

Impressions from the courses

Hamlet Simonyan, Ph.D. student of YSU Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, and participant of the program, said that the students had access to methodological guidelines and tools for doing practical philosophy. They were able to discuss and bring together some essential features related to philosophical activity and a number of related questions.

Emphasizing the exchange of international experience and the continuous development of capabilities, Hamlet noted, "Today, in the rapidly developing world, it is more than important to follow international standards, participate in similar programs, which serve as a basis for comparing the approaches of different universities and (or) teachers, the characteristics of the given component of education, and try to adopt the imitation, improving and developing the local one.":

Plans

Levon Babajanyan and Axel Gosieres noted that there is a desire on both sides to implement joint educational programs in the future, such as summer schools, short-term and long-term exchanges of students and professors, inter-university and co-supervised postgraduate programs, etc.

Thanks to the cooperation, new ideas and goals have been formed, one of which is the development of interdisciplinary educational programs (philosophy and political science, economics, IT field, etc.) in the philosophy department of the Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology of YSU, which is already being successfully done at the Catholic University of Leuven.

According to Levon Babajanyan, the field is open and there are wide development opportunities, it is necessary to be flexible and adapt to the challenges of the time, which can have a beneficial effect on both the development of the faculty and the promotion of philosophical culture among society.