Our team

Oscar Brenifier

Oscar Brenifier, PhD in Philosophy (Paris IV – Sorbonne), is the co-founder of the Institute of Philosophical Practices. For many years, in France as well as in the rest of the world, he has been working on building the concept of philosophical practice, both from a theoretical and practical viewpoint. He has published around fifty books in this area for children and adults. His specialties are philosophical consultation, philosophy for children, didactics of philosophy and business philosophy. He is one of the authors of the UNESCO report: “Philosophy, a school of freedom”.

Isabelle Millon

Isabelle is a philosophy practitioner specialized in philosophy for children and education, director of the Institute of Philosophical Practices that she co-founded, researcher and author of books for teenagers and adults. For more than twenty years, Isabelle has been working on the development of critical thinking as philosophical practice, holding workshops and seminars all over the world, focusing more on pedagogical projects in schools with teachers and learners, training of groups to critical thinking, essentially teachers and people involved in social, political and cultural domains.

Leila Millon

Leila grew up in philosophical practice. She has been assisting to many seminars, workshops, and different sorts of philosophical work, and has become a practitioner herself since five years. She studied music since young age, and graduated from UQAM (University of Quebec in Montreal) in music and singing. She lives an artistic life where she combines both music and philosophy. Main specialization: philosophical consulting, practitioners trainings, and art & thinking.

Audrey Gers

Audrey has been developing her practice with Oscar Brenifier and Isabelle Millon at the Institute of Philosophical Practices for fifteen years, near Paris. She is a member of a research group in philosophical practice. She is part of an online training group and she travelled to different countries for international conferences. She likes to philosophize with adults as well as with children. She considers questioning as the core of any dialogue that gets people out of the torpor of their habits.

Viktoria Chernenko

Viktoria holds an MA in cultural and historical psychology, she is a PhD student in philosophy, a philosophy practitioner, editor and author of books. Creator of Institute of Thinking and Dialogue. Viktoria has been practicing philosophy for 10 years and conducts seminars and individual consultations in 30 countries. Main specialization: philosophical consulting, philosophy in business, the art of interpretation.

Maria Volodina

Maria’s philosophical career began with working with children using philosophical practice. She studied the method of philosophical counseling at IPP and made philosophy her lifestyle. Now Maria does private consultations, group workshops. She is a tutor at the one-year program. She teaches students from different countries, she works with teachers on how to develop critical thinking in children.

Lara Kurygina

Lara started her philosophical career with the course “Philosophical counseling” in Moscow. She started to practice philosophy after she realised how the method of philosophical practice helps to improve the quality of thinking and life in general. She works with children and adults: teaches them to think critically. Conducts individual and group sessions.

Mathias Tistelgren

Mathias is a teacher who holds master’s degrees in philosophy, the Swedish language and English literature, and for the past 15 years he has been teaching these subjects to high school students. He now combines this with his work as a philosophical practitioner where he gives workshops as well as individual training sessions focused on philosophical skills such as questioning, argumentation, problematization, conceptualization and interpretation. He particularly likes to use stories and philosophical texts as tools for thinking.

Kate Cook

Kate is a philosophy practitioner specialized in critical thinking workshops and private consultations. She holds an MA from Purdue University and brings the Socratic method into the classroom teaching philosophy and coaching debate at Lynn University in the United States. She trained with IPP and Institute of Thinking and Dialogue and is a certified practitioner with the American Philosophical Practitioners Association.