“Values and Society”: Aspen Institute Kyiv Holds Its 12th Seminar

From 8–14 November 2025, Aspen Institute Kyiv held its twelfth “Values and Society” seminar in the Carpathian Mountains. The seminar offered participants a dedicated space for reflection and dialogue on the nature of a good society, freedom, justice, and a life of dignity.

Aspen Institute Kyiv brought together participants from across the business, public, education, cultural, media, civil society, and military sectors to explore enduring questions: what it means to be human in a rapidly changing world, how freedom can be reconciled with responsibility, and how to build a society that places human dignity at its core.

Throughout the seminar, participants read and discussed works by Buckminster Fuller, Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, Hryhorii Skovoroda, Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Hannah Arendt, and many other thinkers, reflecting on leadership, law, equality, property, the common good, and the meaning of today’s challenges.

The seminar culminated in its traditional collective theatrical performance, where participants explored the tensions between duty, freedom, and humanity through theatre and collaborative creativity.

Our sincere thanks go to the seminar moderators: Anton Drobovych, Head of the Center for Human Rights and War Memorialization at the Kyiv School of Economics, and Volodymyr Fadieiev, Head of Department at the H. S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, for guiding the group with intellectual depth, care, and inspiring dialogue. The seminar was coordinated by Alina Shkliaruk, Director of Seminar Programs at Aspen Institute Kyiv.

The Aspen Institute Kyiv team warmly congratulates the new “Values and Society” seminar group on completing this shared journey. May the experience continue to serve as a source of strength in your leadership, service, and everyday decisions.

We are deeply grateful to members of the Aspen community for their financial support in making the “Values and Society” seminar possible, as well as to the Hrystia Hranovska Foundation for its generous support.