Asya Passinsky

Asya Passinsky is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Central European University in Vienna. Her research focuses on metaphysics, social philosophy, and feminist philosophy, with a particular emphasis on social ontology and the metaphysics of social objects. She holds a PhD from New York University, a BPhil from the University of Oxford (Rhodes Scholarship), and a BA from UC Berkeley.

Passinsky's work explores the nature of social entities such as borders, currencies, and institutions through neo-Aristotelian frameworks, addressing issues like social construction, essentialism, and normative grounding. She co-founded the annual Social Metaphysics Workshop and leads the ISOS Mentorship Scheme to support early-career scholars in social ontology.

• Education:
  • PhD in Philosophy, New York University
  • BPhil in Philosophy, University of Oxford (Rhodes Scholar)
  • BA in Political Economy and Slavic Languages, UC Berkeley

Her recent publications examine cryptocurrency ontology, feminist essentialism, and normative hylomorphic theories of social objects. She critiques traditional money theories and advocates for hybrid accounts accommodating digital currencies. Passinsky's hybrid framework integrates material and normative components to explain social object creation and persistence.

• Awards: Rhodes Scholarship

Her current projects include a book on social object metaphysics and collaborative work on feminist metaphysics. She teaches at CEU and previously held positions at UNC Chapel Hill, Dartmouth College, and NYU.