Iva Apostolova | Dominican University College
Iva Apostolova

Iva Apostolova

Associate Professor, Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Faculty of philosophy
T 613-233-5696 ext : 337
iva.apostolova@dominicanu.ca
Office: 337

I consider myself a true citizen of the world. I grew up in Eastern Europe where I received both my undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Philosophy. Witnessing the social and political changes Eastern European societies underwent in the late 20th century has made me forever attentive and sensitive to issues of social justice. This, coupled with a keen interest in what women-philosophers have to say about various philosophical and social issues has, naturally, steered me in the direction of feminism as one of my areas of teaching and research interests.

I received my Doctoral degree from the University of Ottawa. I worked on Bertrand Russell’s theory of knowledge during one of the most interesting periods of his career as well as intellectually dynamic times in the history of European philosophy, starting at the beginning of 20th century and ending around the 1930s. I worked with Dr Paul Forster, a Charles Pierce scholar, as well as Dr Nicholas Griffin (as my external adviser), a Russell scholar and logician based at McMaster University.

Because of my philosophical training and due to my classical education (I went to a lycée specializing in ancient languages including classical Latin, Greek and Old Slavonic), as well as the multilingual environment growing up, I swim comfortably in Ancient philosophy, as well as the contemporary Continental and Analytic traditions.

Originating in my doctoral research, memory still holds a central place in my philosophical interests. My work on memory from an epistemological point of view allows me to venture into philosophy of mind and deal with the problem of personal identity and the role of memory in it. My groundwork in neutral monism has allowed me to connect to contemporary scholars in both philosophy of science and philosophy of mind who consider neutral monism to be a promising alternative to physicalism or panpsychism (or, at least, a valuable addition to either).

Feminism I have always approached in a two-fold way: from a historical point of view, and as a social commentary on contemporary gender issues. My historical interests in the roots of feminism has allowed me to publish on such proto-feminist thinkers as the 17th-century British epistemologist Margaret Cavendish. And most recently, I have co-authored manuscripts on the relationship between self and other, in relation to disability, ageing, and dying, as well as in relation to the notion of masculinity.

My work in contemporary feminist thought has allowed me to appreciate and largely adopt relational ontology and ethics of care. I am currently working on two manuscripts on different topics but united by the involvement of relational ontology and ethics of care in both: the compassionate attitude toward non-human animals, and care interpreted as structure as opposed to an attitude. The latter one allows me to cross-reference the notion of care across different philosophical traditions, most notably, the Analytic and the Continental, as well as the Western and the Eastern ones.

I am currently working on a few collaborative research projects involving Russell and Ryle's views on memory, memory, trauma and testimony, and most recently, a grant project on social robots and compassionate care.  

Books 

Aging in an Aging Society: Critical Reflections, Eds. Iva Apostolova and Monique Lanoix, with an Introduction by Iva Apostolova and Monique Lanoix, Sheffield: Equinox Publishing, 2019.
https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/ageing-ageing-society/

Essentials of Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Critical Thinking. Iva Apostolova and Donal O’Reardon. Emond Montgomery Publishing, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-55239-556-1. 

The Idea of EducationEducational Structures in 
Context: At the Interfaces of Higher Education
,  Iva Apostolova and Tom Claes, Eds. E-book, Interdisciplinary Press, 2010.
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/id-press/ebooks/educational-structures-in-context/

 

Chapters in Books 

"Does Neutral Monism Provide the Best Framework for Relational Memory?" in Feminist Philosophy of Mind, Eds. Jennifer McWeeny and Keya Maitra, Oxford University Press, 2020, chapter 18, forthcoming (publication date : August 2020).

“The Otherness within us: Reframing, with Spinoza, the Self’s Relationship to Disability and Aging”, co-authored with Élaina Gauthier-Mamaril, in Aging in an Aging Society: Critical Reflections, Eds. Iva Apostolova and Monique Lanoix, Equinox Publishing: Sheffield, 2019, pp. 41-61, 2019.

“In Exploration of the Moral Underpinnings of the Decision to Euthanize”, in Beyond Present Patient Realities: Collaboration, Care, and Identity, Peter Bray and Ana Maria Borlescu, Eds., Oxford: United Kingdom, Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2015, pp. 113-137.

“War Is/As Play”, in Play of Individuals and Societies, Lynn A. Barnett, Ed., Oxford: United Kingdom, Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2014, pp. 183-190, e-book: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/product/play-of-individuals-and-societies/

“When I Am Afraid, I Will Trust In…” in Culture, Experience, Care: Re-Centering the Patient, Eric Sandberg and Maren Scheurer, Eds., e-book, Inter-Disciplinary Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2014.  

 

Articles in Journals 

“Two Sides of the Same Coin? Neutral Monism as an Attempt to Reconcile Subjectivity and Objectivity in Personal Identity”, co-authored with Nils Frederick-Wagner, De Gruyter’s Metaphysica, Issue 1, Vo. 21, 2020, pp. 121-150.

“Russell and Ryle: Memory, Monism, and Introspection”, co-authored with Robert Davies, submitted to the British Journal of the History of Philosophy, pending review.

Special edition of Science et EspritL’Épistémologie et son histoire/Epistemology and its History, with an introduction by Iva Apostolova and Jean-François Méthot, Science et Esprit, Vol. 71, issue 2 (May-August 2019), pp.147-149.

"Care and the Self: A Philosophical Perspective on Constructing Active Masculinities." Co-authored with Élaina Gauthier-Mamaril, Feminist Philosophy Quarterly 2018, 4, (1). Article 2. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fpq/vol4/iss1/

 “Russell’s Two Theories of Memory”, Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies, n. 37 (winter 2017-18), pp. 307-33.

“Compassion for the Animals: Is It Enough?” In Science et Esprit, 70/2 (2018), pp. 181-194.