Alicja Anna Gescinska (

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, 1981) is a Polish-Belgian philosopher.

Academic career

Alicja Gescinska obtained a master's degree summa cum laude in Moral Sciences at

Ghent University Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when th ...

. She became Doctor of Philosophy at the same university in 2012, having written a dissertation on the philosophy of

Max Scheler Max Ferdinand Scheler (; 22 August 1874 – 19 May 1928) was a German philosopher known for his work in phenomenology, ethics, and philosophical anthropology. Considered in his lifetime one of the most prominent German philosophers,Davis, Zach ...

and

Karol Wojtyla Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

: ''Freedom and Persons: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Meaning of Human Agency in the Thought of Max Scheler and Karol Wojtyla''. Her book ''De verovering van de vrijheid'' (The conquest of freedom) – a philosophical and personal reflection on the meaning of freedom – was very well received. It was awarded by deMens.nu as the best non-fiction book of 2010-2011, and was shortlisted for other literary prizes. In 2012 she wrote an essay on fear and freedom, which is based on the Freedom Lecture she delivered on the Dutch

Liberation Day Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, the fall of a dictatorship, as in Portugal, or the end of an oc ...

, 5 May 2012, at Felix Meritis in Amsterdam. The essay concerns the way in which resentment and hatred lead to the decline of personal and political freedom. From 2013-2014 Gescinska worked as a postdoctoral researcher at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, after which she began working at Amherst College where she teaches courses on the philosophy of freedom and on European politics.

Media personality

She is in demand as a pundit in Belgium and The Netherlands. She is a member of the “Philosophical Team” of the Dutch newspaper ''

Trouw ''Trouw'' (; ) is a Dutch daily newspaper appearing in compact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodox Protestant underground newspaper during World War II. Since 2009, it has been owned by DPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019). ''T ...

'', and wrote a fortnightly philosophical column for the Belgian newspaper ''

De Morgen ''De Morgen'' (Dutch for ''The Morning'') is a Flemish newspaper with a circulation of 53,860. The paper is published in Antwerp, Belgium. History and profile ''De Morgen'' originates from a merger in 1978 of two socialist newspapers ' (meaning ...

'' from 2012 to 2014. In 2016 her debut novel, ''Een soort van liefde'' (A Kind of Love), was published by

De Bezige Bij De Bezige Bij ("the busy bee") is one of the most important literary publishing companies in the Netherlands. History The company was founded illegally in 1943, during the German occupation of the Netherlands by ; its first publication was a poe ...

. She also presented the programme ''Wanderlust'' on the Belgian television channel Canvas, in which she travelled to meet and interview philosophers, writers, artists and scientists. In the first episode she met English philosopher

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views. Editor from 1982 ...

, in the second Scottish sculptor Alexander Stoddart, in the third Dutch novelist

Connie Palmen Aldegonda Petronella Huberta Maria "Connie" Palmen (born 25 November 1955) is a Dutch author. Palmen debuted with the novel ''De wetten'' (1990), published in the United States as ''The Laws'' (1993), translated by Richard Huijing. ''The Laws'' ...

, in the fourth neuroscientist

Raymond Tallis Raymond C. Tallis (born 10 October 1946) is a philosopher, poet, novelist, cultural critic and a retired medical physician and clinical neuroscientist. Specialising in geriatrics, Tallis served on several UK commissions on medical care of the ...

, and in the fifth

Benedictine monk The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...

Laurence Freeman Laurence Freeman OSB (born 17 July 1951) is a Catholic priest and a Benedictine monk of Monastery of Sta Maria di Pilastrello, in Italy, a monastery of the Olivetan Congregation. He is the Director of the World Community for Christian Medita ...

. In September 2017 the first episode of the second season of Wanderlust was broadcast. The second season includes episodes with

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...

Theodore Dalrymple Anthony Malcolm Daniels (born 11 October 1949), also known by the pen name Theodore Dalrymple (), is a conservative English cultural critic, prison physician and psychiatrist. He worked in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries as well as in ...

, Lesley Hazleton and

Sara Maitland Sara Maitland (born 27 February 1950) is a British writer of religious fantasy. A novelist, she is also known for her short stories. Her work has a magic realist tendency. Life and career Sarah (later "Sara") Louise Maitland was born in London ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gescinska, Alicja 1981 births Living people 21st-century Belgian philosophers Polish emigrants to Belgium Ghent University alumni 21st-century Polish philosophers Belgian women philosophers Polish women philosophers