The World Congress of Philosophy is a global meeting of philosophers held every five years in a different country under the auspices of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP). First organized in 1900, these events became firmly established after the Second World War. Each World Congress is sponsored by one of the member societies, which assumes responsibility for the organization of that Congress. The purpose of these events is to contribute to the development of professional relations between philosophers of all countries, promote philosophical education, and contribute to the impact of philosophical knowledge on global problems.
Contents |
The first International Congress of Philosophy was held in Paris in 1900 on the occasion of the “Universal Exhibition”. Among the participants were Henri Bergson, Maurice Blondel, M. Cantor, L. Couturat, H. Poincaré, and Bertrand Russell.
The second International Congress took place in Geneva in 1904; the third was in Heidelberg, 1908 (with Josiah Royce, W. Windelband and Benedetto Croce). Thereafter congresses have been held in Bologna (1911), Naples (1924), Prague (1929; 1934), Königsberg (1930), Paris (1935; 1937), Copenhagen (1936), Cambridge (1938), and Cambridge, Massachusetts (1939). The Second World War disrupted the meetings, but after the war they were taken over by FISP. Recent congresses have taken place in Brighton (1988), Moscow (1993), Boston (1988), and Istanbul (2003). In 2008 it was held in Seoul, Korea - the first time a World Congress had been held in Asia.
Thousands of philosophers from dozens of countries participated in the week-long event in Boston sponsored by the International Federation of Philosophical Societies. An edited selection of the papers presented were published as The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy in twelve thematically organized volumes by the Philosophy Documentation Center, in cooperation with the Congress's American Organizing Committee. The topics of the volumes include: 1. Ethics; 2. Metaphysics; 3. Philosophy of Education; 4. Philosophies of Religion, Art, and Creativity; 5. Epistemology; 6. Analytic Philosophy & Logic; 7. Modern Philosophy; 8. Contemporary Philosophy; 9. Philosophy of Mind; 10. Philosophy of Science; 11. Social and Political Philosophy; and 12. Intercultural Philosophy. The entire set is available online.
These Proceedings were edited by Jaakko Hintikka, Robert Neville, Ernest Sosa, and Alan M. Olson and include papers by Pierre Aubenque, Evandro Agazzi, Karl-Ott Apel, Natalia Avtonomova, Arindam Chakrabarti, Chung-ying Cheng, Daniel Dennett, Fred Dretske, Jorge J.E. Gracia, Marjorie Grene, Adolf Grünbaum, Jaakko Hintikka, Ted Honderich, Ioanna Kucuradi, Hans Lenk, Alasdair MacIntyre, C. Ulises Moulines, W. V. Quine, Gunnar Skirbekk, Vyachevslav Stepin, P. F. Strawson, Olúfémi Táíwò, Georg Henrik von Wright, Linda Zagzebski, Ernesto Gustavo Edwards, Alicia Mónica Pintus and hundreds of others. [6]
The 21st World Congress was held in Istanbul August 10–17, 2003 and had the theme "Philosophy Facing World Problems". There were symposia on:
Edited selections of the papers presented at this meeting were published by the Philosophical Society of Turkey. These Proceedings include the following 13 thematic volumes: 1. Ethics; 2. Social and Political Philosophy; 3. Human Rights; 4. Philosophy of Education; 5. Logic and Philosophy of Sciences; 6. Epistemology; 7. Philosophy and Culture(s); 8. Philosophy of Religion; 9. Philosophical Anthropology; 10. Ancient and Modern Philosophy; 11. Contemporary Philosophy; 12. Philosophical Trends in the XXth Century; and 13. Philosophy Facing World Problems. The entire collections is accessible online in cooperation with the Philosophy Documentation Center. [7]
The 22nd World Congress took place in Seoul, South Korea from July 30 to August 5, 2008 at the Seoul National University. The main theme of the conference was "Rethinking Philosophy Today, and there were four plenary sessions:
The International Program Committee was chaired by Gilbert Hottois.[8] Over 1,200 paper were presented at this Congress, and the Korean Organizing Committee published all of the contributed papers as an eBook edited by Prof. Myung-Hyun-Lee.[9] This eBook includes papers in English, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, French, and German and is distributed by the Philosophy Documentation Center. A selection of invited papers will be published separately as a special supplement to the Journal of Philosophical Research.