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PODCAST

Thinking in Dark Times

Volodymyr Yermolenko

A philosophical and cultural podcast from Ukraine. By Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher and writer. I live and work in Ukraine, doing both intellectual and practical volunteering work in the context of the Russian invasion against Ukraine. I try to see the light through and despite the darkness. Support my work at: https://www.patreon.com/thinkinggg

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

00:46:41

Nobel Laureate Oleksandra Matviychuk on Ukraine’s...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/11/19

She is not only a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She is not only one of the most visible human-rights defenders in Europe in recent decades. She is not only a tireless activist with profound empathy for others. She is also a thinker — someone who reflects deeply on the moral foundations of freedom and dignity. Our guest today is Oleksandra Matviychuk, a prominent Ukrainian human-rights defender and head of the Center for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.In this episode,

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00:46:13

Why Europe’s security depends on Ukraine - with...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/10/30

Ukraine is not a burden for Europe — it’s a chance for Europe.Today, European security is unthinkable without Ukraine. Ukraine has the strongest army in Europe, a dynamic defense industry, and citizens with vast military experience.The real question is: to what extent does Europe itself understand the threat posed by the new authoritarianisms? And to what extent does it realise that helping Ukraine is, in fact, a matter of its own survival?***Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher,

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01:32:14

Timothy Snyder on why history matters — and how we...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/10/21

In September 2025, in Kyiv, a prominent American historian Timothy Snyder received the Vasyl Stus Prize — a Ukrainian award honoring the name of Vasyl Stus, one of Ukraine’s greatest poets and dissidents of the 20th century, killed by the Soviet regime in 1985. Founded in 1989 by Yevhen Sverstiuk, another prominent Ukrainian dissident, the prize is now awarded by PEN Ukraine, the publishing house Dukh i Litera, and the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School.Before the award ceremony, we held a public

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00:32:38

Niall Ferguson on Empires, Networks, and Ukraine

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/10/13

SUPPORT this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/c/thinkinggg ***Are all empires equally bad? If some were better than others, what criteria can we use to make such judgments? Why must we study networks, not only hierarchies, to understand our past, present, and future? What happens to societies in times of catastrophe, and who has the best chances of survival? And finally — why is Ukraine so important for the world today?***Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of

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00:32:28

Can Nationalism Be Good?

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/09/29

SUPPORT this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/c/thinkinggg ***Nationalism, for many people, is a bad word. They associate it with xenophobia, a sense of superiority, and exclusion. Many believe that nationalism inevitably leads to fascism or Nazism.In this episode, I want to challenge these views. Yes, nationalism can lead to dangerous practices, but it can also be something very different — because its roots are different. It grew out of the 19th-century discourse of democracy and republics, in

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00:50:16

Why Ukrainian History Matters Globally — with...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/09/25

Yaroslav Hrytsak is one of Ukraine’s leading historians and public intellectuals. His recent book in Ukrainian, "Overcoming the Past: A Global History of Ukraine", became a bestseller. His English-language book, "Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation", is now a key reference work on Ukrainian history.We met in Lviv to discuss the global dimension of Ukrainian history, and the features of Ukraine’s political culture that explain why the country has so often fought against

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01:01:39

Why colonialism is more complicated than you think -...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/07/29

What’s the difference between colonialism and imperialism? What types of colonialism can we identify — and which of them are playing out in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other countries?This conversation is not purely academic. It helps us better understand what’s happening today — and what might happen tomorrow. Russian colonial and imperial practices sometimes resemble those of other empires — but at other times, they differ significantly. Russia often masks its imperial violence with

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00:36:18

What is Evil?

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/07/28

In this episode, I pose a question about evil. I argue that while the relativization of the concept of evil may once have been necessary, it has now swung to the opposite extreme—one in which we often fail to ask moral questions at all. I suggest that we must return to the question of evil—again and again—if we are to remain moral beings capable of ethical action.This question is not isolated. It is deeply connected to broader philosophical themes: the nature of being and nothingness, creation and

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00:31:26

Nobel-Winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz on the...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/07/07

Joseph Stiglitz is a world-renowned economist and thinker who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001.I met him in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, in June 2025 during the inspiring Zeg Festival in which we both participated.In this podcast episode, we spoke about his latest book, "The Road to Freedom", published last year, and about how flawed ideas of freedom can ultimately undermine freedom itself. I also asked him what the world can do to stop Russia’s brutal invasion

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00:51:55

Hannah Arendt on evil: what can we learn from her...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/06/20

Some might argue that the concept of evil is outdated in our relativistic age. And yet—how can we speak of war crimes, cruelty, or the neglect of human dignity without invoking the word evil? Perhaps it’s time to take it seriously again, to revisit the thinkers who have grappled with its meaning.One of them, of course, is Hannah Arendt.This is a conversation about Hannah Arendt and the concept of evil, which took place in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, on June 1st, at the Kyiv Book Arsenal—one of the

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00:52:51

How to win an information war? - with Peter Pomerantsev

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/06/19

We need a fresh perspective on propaganda. The old strategies for combating misinformation are no longer effective. Simply offering fact-checks isn’t enough—those ensnared by propaganda aren’t searching for facts. They’re searching for something deeper: identity, belonging, and meaning.This is the central argument of a new book by Peter Pomerantsev, a renowned scholar of propaganda and information warfare. "How to Win an Information War" tells the story of British journalist Sefton Delmer,

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00:47:13

Ukraine and Democracy in the Global World – with Aman...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/06/04

Democracy is fragile today. Yet it is not confined to a single place, a specific country, or a particular political system. The democratic promise remains far from fully realized. Still, we can find hope in the idea that when democracy retreats in one part of the world, it may grow stronger in another.This is “Thinking in Dark Times”, a podcast series by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet focused on Ukraine.Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of

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00:46:38

Anne Applebaum on Trump, Ukraine, and Russia

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/05/28

SUPPORT "Thinking in Dark Times" podcast: https://www.patreon.com/c/thinkinggg We had a conversation with Anne Applebaum a few months ago on this podcast about her book "Autocracy, Inc".—be sure to check it out: ukraineworld.org/en/podcasts//ep-332The current episode features a public conversation on similar themes: the crisis of democracy, the rise of new autocracies, Trump’s pro-Russian stance, and Russia’s war against Ukraine.It was recorded as a keynote discussion at the Lviv

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01:26:46

Thinking in Dark Times. Lessons from Ukraine. -...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/05/23

SUPPORT THIS PODCAST: https://patreon.com/thinkingggWhat lessons can we draw from the Ukrainian experience? Why is Ukraine not only a place of suffering and fight, but also a place of thinking and creation? Why is the cultural renaissance so strong during the war? What does it mean to think in dark times?Lecture by Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, and the president of PEN Ukraine, at the Institute for Human Sciences (Institut für die Wissenschaften vom

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01:57:03

What matters during dark times? | Czyżewski, Shore,...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/05/14

Do dictators rule by death and nihilism? Do they want to make us powerless - and do they succeed? Is today’s crisis also our chance?This is an online conversation between Polish philosopher Krzysztof Czyzewski, American historian Marci Shore, Georgian writer Iva Pezuashvili, and Ukrainian philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko.The event was held under the aegis of the Dilemma project implemented by the Institute for Central European Strategy with the support of the European Commission"Thinking in

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00:48:21

Margaret Atwood on tyrannies and the fragility of...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/05/07

Margaret Atwood is perhaps one of the greatest living writers today. Her novel "The Handmaid’s Tale" and its continuation, "The Testaments," are seen by many as prophetic.This is a conversation about dangers and hopes, about human nature, the classics, and the challenges of dark times.Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, and the president of PEN Ukraine."Thinking in Dark Times" is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about

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01:43:14

Rethinking the 20th-century intellectual legacy -...

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/03/24

Which 20th-century ideas should we carry with us into the 21st century? And which of them have become obsolete?We discuss these topics during a live event with David Rieff, a prominent American writer and journalist. The discussion was held on March 1st at PEN Ukraine space in Kyiv, and was organized by UkraineWorld, PEN Ukraine and Thinking in Dark Times podcast.Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and the chief editor of UkraineWorld, the president of PEN Ukraine, and Tetyana

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00:32:22

Communism: A Critical Look

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/03/17

In this episode, I offer a critical perspective on communism. I will argue three main points:First, while the idea of communism is built on certain commendable foundations, its Marxist and later Leninist iterations lead it down a misguided and immoral path.Second, unlike Nazism, totalitarian communism has never been fully condemned, resulting in a legacy of unpunished crimes—crimes that, without accountability, continue to be repeated.Third, Soviet Marxism was, in fact, a distorted or reversed

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00:31:59

Talk or Fight: Agora and Agon as Political Metaphors

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/03/04

In this episode, I argue that a healthy polity is an equilibrium between the values of agora (conversation, dialogue, exchange) and the values of agon (warrior ethos, capacity to fight when needed). The absolutization of one of these values weakens the state and society. I also refer to classics of political philosophy and history, particularly the Greek historian Polybius and his account of the Roman Republic. My name is Volodymyr Yermolenko, I am a Ukrainian philosopher and book writer, president

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00:36:40

What do we get wrong about the 20th century?

Thinking in Dark Times ·

2025/02/26

What misconceptions do we have about the 20th century? Our inaccurate understanding of the past often leads to mistakes or inaction in the present. In this episode, I delve into what I believe are misconceptions about the 20th century. I will focus on two main points: 1) why a certain interpretation of the end of World War II is incorrect; 2) why the belief that we are living in a "post-history" era is misleading; and 3) why equating economic prosperity with political and social strength is

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25 results

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