FISP : Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie

RESULTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL PHILOSOPHY OLYMPIAD -- ATHENS, MAY 21-23, 2010

COUNTRY	NAME	AWARD
SLOVENIA	Aljaž Jelenko	GOLD MEDAL
POLAND	Kacper Kowalczyk	SILVER MEDAL
KOREA	Jae Hyun Yoo	SILVER MEDAL
ROMANIA	Valeriu Alexandru Cuc	BRONZE MEDAL
ITALY	Josef Piras	BRONZE MEDAL
HUNGARY	Tibor Backhausz	BRONZE MEDAL

	HONORABLE MENTIONS	LISTED BY COUNTRIES ALPHABETICAL ORDER
BULGARIA	Anita Ignatova	HONORABLE MENTION (3rd Round)
CROATIA	Nikolina Budan	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)
ESTONIA	Anna Smertina	HONORABLE MENTION (3rd Round)
ESTONIA	Paul Kuuse	HONORABLE MENTION (3rd Round)
FINLAND	Karoliina Juulia Pulkkinen	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)
FINLAND	Tapani Pulkkinen	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)
GREECE	Platias Nikolaos	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)
INDIA	Chitra Adkar	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)
ITALY	Alessio Rocca	HONORABLE MENTION (3rd Round)
KOREA	Tae Heun Kim	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)

LITHUANIA	Ignas Rubikas	HONORABLE MENTION (3rd Round)
NORWAY	Erik Ramberg	HONORABLE MENTION (3rd Round)
NORWAY	Henning Rognlien	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)
ROMANIA	Irina Horodinca	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)
SWITZERLAND	Muriel Leuenberger	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)
TURKEY	Firat Akova	HONORABLE MENTION (2nd Round)

Themes

1. “Der Philosoph behandelt eine Frage; wie eine Krankheit.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophische Untersuchungen §255

“The philosopher’s treatment of a question is like the treatment of an illness.” – Philosophical Investigations

“Le philosophe traite une question; comme une maladie.” – Recherches Philosophiques

2. Do the values that are called ‘human rights’ have independent and universal validity, or are they historically and culturally relative human inventions?

Les valeurs appelées « droits humains » ont-elles une validité indépendante et universelle, ou sont-elles des constructions humaines susceptibles de varier historiquement et culturellement?

Verhalten sich die Werte die sich heissen « Menschenrechte » relativ zu den historischen oder kulturellen Verhältnisse, oder haben sie eine selbstständige und universelle Gültigkeit?

3. “Toute philosophie est par nature engagée. Mais elle a pour tâche de choisir un ethos plutôt qu’un autre, et non un parti plutôt qu’un autre.” – Giulio Preti, Praxis et empirisme (1936)

“Every philosophy is by nature committed. But it has as its task to choose one ethos rather than another, not one party rather than another.”

“Jede Philosophie ist von Natur aus engagiert. Aber sie hat als ihre Aufgabe ein Ethos über ein anderes zu wählen, und nicht eine Partei über eine andere.”

4. “For man, when perfected, is the best of animals; but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.” – Aristotle, Politics I, 1253a31

“Wie der Mensch in seiner Vollendung das edelste aller Geschöpfe ist, so ist er, losgerissen von Gesetz und Recht, das schlimmste von allen.”

“Si l’homme, en effet, à son point de perfection, est le meilleur des animaux, il est aussi, quand il rompt avec la loi et la justice, le pire de tous.”

Important change in rules for the next IPO -- Vienna, Austria, May 26-29, 2011:

The IPO governing body voted to permit the use of Spanish, as well as English, French, and German, as a language in which essays may be written. (No contestant is permitted to write in his or her first language.) This will be permitted on a trial basis for the 2011 IPO.

THOMISM AND ASIAN CULTURES:

CELEBRATING 400 YEARS OF DIALOGUE ACROSS CIVILIZATIONS -

international philosophical conference organised by the University of Santo Tomas (España, Manila, Philippines), Department of Philosophy.

The conference, related to the celebration of the quadricentennial of the pontifical and royal University of Santo Tomas, will be held from 23 to 26 May 2011.

To the conference have been invited the following philosophical organizations: Conférence Mondiale des Institutions Universitaires Catholiques de Philosophie; Academie du Midi; World Union of Catholic Philosophical Societies; Philippine Academy of Philosophical Research; Philosophical Association of the Philippines; Philosophical Association Philosophical Association of North Luzon.

Call for papers.

For more information, please visit http://ust400philosophy.org or contact ust400philosophy@gmail.com

NEWS FROM MEMBER SOCIETIES

NATIONAL SOCIETIES

ETATS-UNIS

Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children

2010 Summer Seminars for Children

IAPC/ACPC Seminar May 17-25

Held at

St. Marie`s Retreat House, Graz Austria

Advanced Seminar

The advanced seminar takes place each May. This time it will be in Austria. This seminar is for graduate students, teachers, professors and others from around the world who have previous experience using the P4C curriculum and methodology. In this session we focus on some of the theoretical dimensions of Philosophy for Children, community of inquiry studies, and P4C curriculum construction. In addition to facilitating workshop sessions, participants are invited to create philosophical stories with accompanying exercises and discussion plans that aim to foster philosophical inquiry.

Seminar Costs

May 17-25, 2010: Room, board,materials and course

fee included is € 1.350,--

IAPC/ACPC Seminar August 19-26

Held at

Castle of Retzhof, Leibnitz Austria

Introductory Seminar

The introductory seminar takes place each August. This time it will be in Austria. During this seminar participants will experience and practice facilitating a “Community of Philosophical Inquiry” with adults, cultivate a “philosophical ear” by learning to recognize philosophical dimensions of experience and philosophical issues in texts, and practice using Philosophy for Children curriculum materials. It will give participants the basic qualification in P4C – an approach in doing philosophy that is now practiced in more than 65 countries worldwide.

Participants need not know the P4C curriculum or have had any experience doing philosophy with children or with adults.

Seminar Costs

August 19-26, 2010: Room, board, materials and course fee included is € 1.350,--

Seminar Registration :

To receive a letter of invitation for the seminar please send a letter (on university or school letterhead) to the ACPC describing your educational background, your interest in Philosophy for Children and any plans for implementation of the program. If you do not work for a university or school, please also send a letter describing your educational background and your motivation and your plans for implementing of the programm. Letters can be emailed, mailed or faxed to:

Klara Gruber

ACPC Austrian Center of Philosophy for Children

8010 Graz, Austria

Email: kinderphilosophie@aon.at

Phone and Fax: + 43 (0) 316 811513

Mobile: + 43 650 830 30 18; + 43 650 830 30 19

FÉDÉRATION DE RUSSIE

Bulletin
of the Russian Philosophical Society
No. 4 (52) 2009 (240 p.)

We hereby announce publication and circulation of the Bulletin of the Russian Philosophical Society No. 4, 2009 (Editor-in-Chief, Professor A. N. Chumakov; Executive Secretary, Professor N. Z. Yaroschuk).

The New Year Editor’s Column titled On the Issue of Competence (by Pr. A. N. Chumakov) is followed by a section on the World Philosophy Day: Philosophy intheDialogueofCultures. Read this for information on the World Philosophy Day activities in Moscow, Ulan-Ude (the Buryat RPhS Branch) and in Astrakhan.

Read Information from the RPhS Regional Branches and Organisations for a detailed account of the Round Table on Russian Philosophy and Russian Statehood in Rostov-on-Don (the Don Philosophical Society) and the activities of the Udmurt RPhS Branch.

See News from the Moscow Philosophical Society for information about the Academic Readings in memory of A. A. Malinovsky, biologist and philosopher (son of A. A. Bogdanov); the Fourth International Conference on Contemporary Humanitarian Problems. The Humanitarian Consciousness: Problems, Inquiries, Prospects at the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering; the Third International Academic Conference on Knowledge and Innovations: Sociopolitical and Politico-economical Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, the Moscow State Lomonosov University; the Third Annual Workshop on Philosophical Issues in Biology and Medicine: Traditions and Innovations. Read also the RPhS members’ Open Letter to President D. A. Medvedev concerning the attempts to seize the premises of the Institute of Philosophy, the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). This is followed by a variety of letters on the same topic titled The Fuss Around the Tub (an allusion to Diogenes’ tub), including the open letter to President D. A. Medvedev and Prime Minister V. V. Putin by the RPhS Presidium members; the Statement of the FISP (the International Federation of Philosophical Societies) Steering Committee; the Statement of the International Association of Professors of Philosophy (AIPPH); a letter by the President of the Academic Council of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, the Polish Academy of Sciences; and 48 other letters of support from a range of academic and philosophical organisations, both Russian and foreign.

Events and Comments inform about the Seventh Kireyevsky Readings Optina Pustyn and the Russian Culture in Kaluga; the Anacharsis Tauris Readings in Simferopol; the International Public Conference commemorating the 130th anniversary of E. I. Roerich in Moscow; the young academics’ forum on Philosophical Issues in Contemporary Psychology in Krasnodar; the Round Table on the World Financial Crisis: A Beginning or an End? at the Financial Academy of the Government of the Russian Federation (Moscow).

Read Summing-up the Fifth Russian Congress of Philosophy (Novosibirsk, August 25 to 28, 2009) for a detailed account of the Round Table on the Philosophy of Ethnicity and Ethnic Philosophy; the Round Table on Philosophy and Literature; and the article Krasnoyarsk Philosophers on the Fifth RCP by Assoc. Pr. V. Yu. Kolmakov and Pr. V. I. Kudashov (Krasnoyarsk).

Problems of Teaching Philosophy present prize-winning students’ essays on the topic of What Is Missing from the University Philosophy Course You Studied, What Would You Add to It and What Would You Exclude? This competition was initiated by the Petrozavodsk State University and the Oxford Russian Centre. The section’s other publication is Logic and Rhetoric at a Law University by Pr. O. V. Petrov (Moscow).

Read Managing Education: Contemporary Approaches for The Rating of Universities as a Factor of Managerial Decision-making by E. V. Bryzgalina (Moscow).

To learn about Scholarly Life in the Near Abroad read The Intuitive Style of Thinking by Assoc. Pr. A. K. Turashbekov (Chimkent, Kazakhstan); and The International Ecological Law and the Regulation of Ecological Policies by Assoc. Pr. E. M. Usmanov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan).

The column Advance, Russia!? is a response to President Medvedev’s appeal for joint effort to find a way out the intellectual dead end. The section includes My Reply to D. Medvedev by V. T. Tretyakov, Editor-in-Chief, Political Class; Advance, Russia! But Where’s the Way Out? by I. I. Kondrashin, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Moscow); The Way to the Alluring Beyonds: There, Behind the Blue Mist by Pr. Kh. G. Tkhagapsoyev (Nalchik).

The issue’s Important Talk isby Pr. D. I. Dubrovsky (Moscow) on The Problem of Cheating: About a Unique Plagiarism.

Civil Society presents On the Problem of Civic Consciousness and Civil Society in the Russian Federation by Assoc. Pr. O. V. Kozlova (Cherepovets).

Published By Way of Discussion are The Religious and the Scientific as Types of Human Attitudes Towards the Universe by Pr. V. N. Sagatovsky (St. Petesrburg); Is a Dialogue of Worldviews Possible? by A. B. Shulyndina, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Nizhny Novgorod); The Mystery of Aristotle’s Denial of the Objectivity of the Dialectic by Assoc. Pr. V. D. Ruta (Moscow); On the Linguistic Turn in the 20th-century Philosophy by Pr. L. P. Stankevich and Assoc. Pr. I. P. Polyakova (Lipetsk); Homo Sapiens Will Give Way to Post-Humans by D. A. Dzhioeva, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Vladikavkaz); The Socio-natural Selection as a Universal Law of World History by S. S. Peruansky, Cand. Phys. & Math. Sc. (Moscow).

A Topical Issue is discussed in Science and Faith in the Epistemological Context by Pr. A. A. Krushanov (Moscow).

Read History and Philosophy of Science for On the Usefullness of Fundamental Science by Pr. E. A. Mamchur (Moscow).

Read From the History of Russian Philosophy for The Russian Cosmism: The Global Issues in the 21st Century by Pr. A. D. Moskovchenko (Tomsk); The Conceptual Philosophical Foundations in the Pedagogical Legacy of P. F. Kapterev by R. S. Lunyov, postgraduate student (St. Petersburg).

Global Studies inform about the seminar on The Philosophical and Methodological Research in the Field of Global Studies discussing Dr. Jagidsh Gandhi’s earlier presentation concerning The Social Responsibility of a Contemporary Institution.

Read Polemics for A Reply to a “Philosophical Partisan” by Pr. T. P. Lolayev (Vladikavkaz); and Philosophy as a Game of Thimbles by Pr. M. M. Prokhorov (Nizhny Novgorod).

Philosophy of Culture presents Construing Culture and Mentality: The Peoples of Northern Caucasus up to 1917 by Pr. M. A. Shankao (Cherkessk).

Read Responses to Our Publications for The Dialectic of the Century by V. I. Dolzhenko (Moscow), a response to A Hundred Years Later by Pr. M. M. Prokhorov (RPhS Bulletin 2009:2); and Occultism in Contemporary Mentality by L. V. Fesenkova (Moscow), a response to publications by Pr. V. F. Druzhinin.

Read Pursuing the Topic for Russia Without a Capital? by Pr. I. A. Gobozov responding to the proposal to move government agencies from Moscow to other cities.

Feedback presents the analytical review of RPhS Bulletin 2009:3 by an independent observer Pr. V. F. Druzhinin (Moscow).

See Rejoinder for The Berlin Walls of Peace by Pr. A. G. Pyrin (Moscow).

Read Philosophy of Business for an interview with Ye. V. Demichev, Rector, the Institute for Business and Politics.

See the Young Philosopher’s Page for Programming Minds by Imposing Stereotypes in the Sphere of Art by I. A. Sukmanov, a student (Moscow); and Thanatophobia and Its Anthropological Roots by P. A. Yefremov, a student (Tver).

Read Philosophy in the Internet for an interview with O. L. Shevchenko, Cand. Philos. Sc., Editor-in-Chief, ARGO, an e-Journal of philosophy and literature (Ukraine).

See New Journals for information about Zinovyev. Isklyuchitel’nyy zhurnal (Zinovyev: An Exceptional Journal).

See Philosophers Joke Too for humorous miniatures by Leonid Podvoysky (Astrakhan).

The Poetic Page presents verses by Mikhail Zhikharevich (Pskov), Mark Lensky (Moscow), Naum Yaroshchuk (Moscow).

Read Our Contemporaries for The Joy of Intercourse by the writer Yuri Bondarev, about the work of V. A. Razumny, philosopher, publicist and critic (on the occasion of his 85th anniversary).

Read Jubilee for The 100th Anniversary of Martin Heidegger by Pr. N. F. Buchilo (Moscow).

Mentioned as Noteworthy is information about The Proceedings of the Fifth Russian Congress of Philosophy and The New Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 4 vols. (the chance and terms of purchase).

A new column Looking for a Job is open for the benefit of those it may concern.

See also book reviews, annotations, book announcements, information about books and journals available at the RPhS Presidium, doctoral (20) and candidate (90) dissertations in philosophy defended in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Published also are letters of congratulations on jubilees and other notable events in philosophers’ lives and obituaries.

See supplement to the information about the RPhS Structure and the RPhS Membership List (as published in RPhS Bulletin 2009:3); the former currently uniting 113 regional branches, 47 field branches, 39 primary units of the Moscow Philosophical Society; (47); the latter totalling 6,026.

Read also requirements for the RPhS membership for 2010. Like in other issues of the Bulletin, it is explained that the Russian Philosophical Society counts as its members only those who have paid the yearly membership fee and have been consequently included in the current year membership list. They henceforward enjoy all the privileges of the Society members, including subscription to the RPhS Bulletin. Full membership lists are published yearly in RPhS Bulletin No. 3 for the year in question.

The Bulletin’s subscription index in the Rospechat Catalogue is 79643. Please, send your e-mail messages addressed to the RPhS Presidium and the RPhS Bulletin Editorial Board to rphs@iph.ras.ru or rfo.presidium@gmail.com. Our Internet websites are www.logic.ru/~phil-soc; www.dialog21.ru; www.globalistika.ru; www.r-f-o.org. To contact the Editors, please, call (495) 609-90-76 or (495) 697-92-98.

Bulletinof of the Russian Philosophical Society
No. 1 (53) 2010 (240 p.)

We hereby announce publication and circulation of the Bulletin of the Russian Philosophical Society No. 1, 2010 (Editor-in-Chief, Professor A. N. Chumakov; Executive Secretary, Professor N. Z. Yaroschuk).

The Presidium of the Russian Philosophical Society and the RPhS Bulletin Editorial Board offer their condolence to the relatives and friends of the victims of the terrorist attacks in Moscow Underground on Match 29 and Kizlyar on March 31.

Read Information from the RPhS Regional Branches and Organisations for a detailed account of the seminar organised by the Nizhegorod RPhS Branch to discuss the topic of the Sixth Russian Congress of Philosophy to be held in Nizhny Novgorod; the meeting (in the form of a round table) of the Astrakhan RPhS Branch on Immunology of Culture: The Theoretical and the Practical Aspects; the workshop on The Philosophical problems of Ethnonational Development in Contemporary Society held in Yakutsk; the conference of the Irkutsk RPhS Branch on The Epistemological Aspects of the Contemporary Educational Reality in Making: Responses to Challenges;the Days of Philosophy in Cheboksary.

See News from the Moscow Philosophical Society for information about the forthcoming general meeting of the MPhS; the debate about The Meaning of the Crisis of the Technogenic Civilisation at the Central Scientists’ Club; the workshop on N. N. Moiseyev’s Universal Evolutionism and the Civilisational Ruptures; the students’ debate about Who Are We? A Glimpse Through the Prism of Globalisation at the Moscow University for Humanities; the students’ section for Classical Philosophy at the Moscow Aviation Institute.

Events and Comments inform about the undergraduate philosophical readings on The Philosophy of Science and the Contemporary Science in Rostov-on-Don; the presentation of The Karabakh Diary by Yuri Pompeyeyv at the Russian State Library organised by the Geidar Aliev Foundation with the support of the Azerbaijan Embassy; the international conferences on The Metaphysics of Art – VI: The Architectonics of the Musical Image and The Dispositions of the Middle Ages in the History of World Culture held within the frame work of the Days of St. Petersburg Philosophy; the round table Philosophy for Children at the Institute of Philosophy, the Russian Academy of Sciences [RAS]; the Third Russian National Conference of Undergraduate, Postgraduate Students and Young Scholars on The Artificial Intelligence: Philosophy, Methodology, Innovations at the Moscow State Institute for Radio Technologies, Electronics and Automatics; the undergraduate conference on Value Orientations of the Present-Day Young People: Trends and Priorities in Kazan; the conference on Contemporary Intuitionism in the Twentieth-century Culture (Towards Henry Bergson’s 150th Anniversary) in Rostov-on-Don.

Problems of Teaching Philosophy present Russian Philosophy. The Contemporary Russian University by Assoc. Pr. V. Yu. Lebedev (Tver) and Teaching Cultural Studies Courses in the Course of Russia’s Integration Into European Educational Space by Pr. R. P. Trofimova and Assoc. Pr. T. P. Chernobayeva (Moscow).

Read Managing Education: Contemporary Approaches for information about the recent meeting of the Presidium of the Council for Instruction Methods in Philosophy and Religious Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, the Lomonosov Moscow State University; and Portfolio of Careers: Techniques of Self-Determination and Self-Organisation in the Knowledge Society by Yu. B. Gryaznova, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Moscow).

To learn about Scholarly Life in the Near Abroad read Russia: A Potential Enemy or a Benevolent Neighbour: Myth and Reality by Pr. I. I. Kalny (the Crimea, Ukraine); The Azerbaijan Economy Under Conditions of Globalisation by I. I. Efendiev (Baku, Azerbaijan); Problems of the Civil Society (A Conference in Kiev) by Pr. O. V. Chistyakova (Moscow); Philosophy and Rationality in the Culture of the Globalising World (A Conference in Minsk) by Pr. A. I. Zelenkov and Assoc. Pr. A. A. Legchilin (Minsk, Belarus).

Read International Contacts for Athens as a Cultural Crossroad by A. V. Katsura, Cand. Philos. Sc., and I. I. Kondrashin, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Moscow) writing about the international symposium on The Mutual Understanding and Friendship Through Dialogue of Cultures in Athens participated by RPhS members; and Florensky in France by Pr. V. N. Belov (Saratov) writing about the international colloquium on Pavel Florensky and Europe in Bordeaux.

The issue’s Important Talk isby Pr. S. L. Ivashevsky (Nizhny Novgorod) on The Ideological Function of the Contemporary Philosophy of Education.

Philosophy and the Contemporary World present information about The First Asian Congress of Philosophy in New Delhi (India) by Ye. V. Silina, postgraduate student (Moscow).

The Union of Philosophy and Natural Sciences is highlighted in On Conjugation of Bioethics and Ecology (N. N. Moiseyev’s Motifs) by Pr. Yu. M. Khrustalyov (Moscow).

Published By Way of Discussion are On the Question of Modernisation by Assoc. Pr. I. I. Shevchuk (Moscow); Dialectical Materialism as a Phenomenon of the National and World Philosophical Culture by Pr. S. M. Khalin (Tyumen); Encountering Synthesising Realism by R. B. Kalmykov (Ivanovo); Network Communications and Postmodernism by G. N. Mezentsev (Moscow); The Secrets of Hegel’s Philosophy by S. S. Peruansky, Cand. Phys. & Math. Sc. (Moscow); A Word on the Ethnomentality by Pr. M. A. Shenkao (Cherkessk); Personality and Society by O. P. Dubyagina, Cand. Juris. Sc. (Moscow).

Read From the History of Russian Philosophy for The Development of the Russian Philosophy of Law by V. P. Pozdnyakov, Cand. Juris. Sc. (Moscow).

See Continuing the Debate for How Can We Save the Asiatic Russia? (On the Possibility of Relocating the Council of Federation to Siberia) by Pr. A. B. Ivanov (Barnaul).

Philosophical Anthropology presents Philosophical Interpretation of Androgyny by E. M. Spirova, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Moscow).

Philosophy of Culture presents Reading as a Creative Process of Personality Formation by S. M. Larkov (St. Petersburg).

Read Philosophy of Preservation of National Health for Why Is Philosophy of Medicine Unavoidable? by D. V. Reut, Cand. Tech. Sc. (Moscow), and On the Repose of Euthanasia by Assoc. Pr. V. D. Zhirnov (Moscow).

Global Studies present The Global Crisis and the Problem of Russia’s Self-Identification by Assoc. Pr. O. Yu. Kolosova (Stavropol); Transformations of National Self-Consciousness in the Globalising World by Pr. Ye. V. Vinogradova (Novorossiysk); Sociotechnonatural Globalisation: Processes and Problems by Assoc. Pr. Ye. A. Dergachova (Bryansk); information about the discussion of Pr. I. A. Gobozov’s paper Globalisation and Primitivisation of Society at the seminar for the Philosophy and Methodology of Global Studies.

See Responses to Our Publications for Is the Notion of Freedom Applicable to Inanimate Nature? by Pr. G. N. Gumnitsky and Pr. M. G. Zelentsova (Ivanovo), a response to S. S. Peruansky (see RPhS Bulletin 2009:3); Artistic Avant-garde Is Art by Pr. A. G. Pyrin (Moscow), a response to I. A. Sukmanov’s Programming Minds by Imposing Stereotypes in the Sphere of Art (RPhS Bulletin 2009:4).

Read Pursuing the Topic for Theism, Atheism, Intheism by N. N. Slonov, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Saratov), and Science and Religion: The Problem of Compatibility by Assoc. Pr. N. N. Gubanov (Tyumen).

Feedback presents the analytical review of RPhS Bulletin 2009:4 by an independent observer Pr. V. F. Druzhinin (Moscow).

See Continuing the Debate for How Can We Save the Asiatic Russia? (On the Possibility of Relocating the Council of Federation to Siberia) by Pr. A. B. Ivanov (Barnaul).

Philosophical Anthropology presents Philosophical Interpretation of Androgyny by E. M. Spirova, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Moscow).

Philosophy of Culture presents Reading as a Creative Process of Personality Formation by S. M. Larkov (St. Petersburg).

Read Pursuing the Topic for Theism, Atheism, Intheism by N. N. Slonov, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Saratov), and Science and Religion: The Problem of Compatibility by Assoc. Pr. N. N. Gubanov (Tyumen).

Feedback presents the analytical review of RPhS Bulletin 2009:4 by an independent observer Pr. V. F. Druzhinin (Moscow).

Standpoint presents The Paradigm of Pedagogics: The Phenomenological Aspects of the Theory of Education by G. Yu. Belyaev, Cand. Pedag. Sc. (Moscow), and The Roots of Global Crises and Human Nature by M. I. Sternberg, Cand. Tech. Sc. (Moscow).

New Journals inform about Values and Meanings.

Philosophical Periodicals present On the Russian Philosophical Gazette by Pr. V. Kh. Khakhanyan (Moscow).

Read Pro Memoria for reminiscences about Pheokhary Kessidi by Pr. G. V. Drach (Rostov-on-Don), and Pr. M. N. Gromov (Moscow), and V. V. Starovoitov, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Moscow).

Read Jubilee for An Outstanding Representative of Russian National Intelligentsia: Towards Pr. A. Ye.Mordvinov’s 100th Anniversary by A. A. Pakhomov, D. Econ. Sc. (Yakutia).

Под рубрикой "Философы тоже шутят" опубликована статья о розыгрыше проф. Разумного В.А. (Москва) «Смеяться, право, не грешно…».

Read Philosophers Joke Too for Laughing Is No Sin by Pr. V. A. Razumny (Moscow) on the subject of practical jokes.

The Poetic Page presents verses by Filip Filipov (Pleven, Bylgaria), Lev Boleslavsky (Moscow), Boris Rezhabek (Moscow).

«На заметку философу» − о проекте «Утопия», в рамках которого создан портал как «Открытая библиотека научных сборников» www.utopiya.ru.www.utopiya.ru.

Mentioned as Noteworthy is informatin about the Utopia Project, including the new portal Scholarly Collections Open Library (www.utopiya.ru).

A new column Looking for a Job is open for the benefit of those it may concern.

See also book reviews, annotations, book announcements, information about books published by members of the Institute of Philosophy, RAS, in 2009, books and journals available at the RPhS Presidium, doctoral (8) and candidate (48) dissertations in philosophy defended in the first quarter of 2010.

Published also are letters of congratulations on jubilees and other notable events in philosophers’ lives and obituaries.

Read Supplement to the RPhS Conferences Plan for 2010 (RPhS Bulletin 2009:4) (totalling 152 events).

The Bulletin’s subscription index in the Rospechat Catalogue is 79643. Please, send your e-mail messages addressed to the RPhS Presidium and the RPhS Bulletin Editorial Board to rphs@iph.ras.ru. Our Internet websites are www.logic.ru/~phil-soc; www.dialog21.ru; www.globalistika.ru; www.r-f-o.org. To contact the Editors, please, call (495) 609-90-76 or (495) 697-92-98.

Bulletin
of the Russian Philosophical Society
No. 2 (54) 2010 (240 p.)

We hereby announce publication and circulation of the Bulletin of the Russian Philosophical Society No. 2, 2010 (Editor-in-Chief, Professor A. N. Chumakov; Executive Secretary, Professor N. Z. Yaroschuk).

The opening Editor’s Column is titled In the Beginning Was the Word. Here Professor A. N. Chumakov reflects on a number of principal themes and questions related to important events within the philosophical community and the Bulletin’s editorial policies.

Read Information from the RPhS Regional Branches and Organisations for a detailed account of Academician V. S. Styopin’s visit to Tomsk; the meeting of Pr. A. N. Chumakov, First Vice President, RPhS, and Assoc. Pr. A. D. Korolyov, Chief Scientific Secretary, RPhS, with the leading functionaries of the Kuban RPhS Branch; the Round Table on Dialogue of Cultures Under Conditions of Globalisation organised by the Adygeya RPhS Branch; the Russian National Workshop on Sociology, Philosophy, Law as Scientific Foundations of Contemporary Social Development held by Krasnoyarsk Philosophical Society in cooperation with other organisations; the Fifth Russian National Askin Readings on Philosopher’s Life-World at the Age of Globalisation at the Saratov State University. Read also a review of the activities of the Saratov RPhS Branch in 2009; and recommendations of the Workshop on Philosophical Problems of Ethno-national Development in Contemporary Society held in Yakutsk.

See News from the Moscow Philosophical Society for report of the MPhS Governing Board about the Society’s activities between April 2009 and April 2010 and membership of the newly elected Governing Board. Reed detailed account of the Russian National Workshop on Socio-humanitarian Problems of Civil Engineering at the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering; and information about the International Workshop on Tourist Industry: Possibilities, Priorities, Problems and Prospects at the Gostiny Dvor Exhibition Centre; the Moscow State Law Academy students’ participation at the Conference on The Meaning of the Crisis of Technogenic Civilisation held at the Academic House.

Events and Comments inform about the International Conference held in Nizhny Novgorod within the framework of the Year of France in Russia and the Year of Russia in France to discuss Interconfessional Relations in Central Eurasia; the Interdisciplinary Round Table on Philosophy of Crisis: Pursuing the Talk at the Financial Academy; the conference in Ufa commemorating the 100th anniversary of V. I. Svidersky; the Power-4 Award (the Russian National Award in Socio-political Journalism) ceremony at the Institute of Social Design (Moscow); the Aristotle Readings in Rostov-on-Don; the 10th anniversary of Alexander Bogdanov International Institute (Yekaterinburg); the activities of the Herzen Philosophical Society (St. Petersburg); the International Students’ Conference on Life and Happiness in the Dynamics of Being: The Contemporary Youth Outlook in Kazan; the activities of the Interdisciplinary Seminar for Transhumanism and Scientific Immortalism over the last five years (Moscow).

Problems of Teaching Philosophy present Philosophy as an Educational Discipline in Russia of the 2010s by Pr. V. I. Krasikov (Kemerovo).

Read Managing Education: Contemporary Approaches for Basics of Modelling the External Environment of the Education Process by Pr. S. V. Ivanova (Moscow).

A Topical Issue is discussed in Science Beyond Tradition by Pr. A. A. Krushanov (Moscow).

To learn about Scholarly Life in the Near Abroad read The Days of Science in Kiev by Ye. V. Silina, postgraduate student (Moscow); The Method of Comparative Analysis in the Writings of Abu ar-Rayhan al-Biruni by Assoc. Pr. G. T. Kabulinyazova (Tashkent, Uzbekistan); Logics in the Post-Soviet Space by Assoc. Pr. O. V. Malyukova (Moscow).

Read Philosophical Life Abroad for Contemporary Polish Philosophy of History by O. K. Shevchenko, Cand. Philos. Sc. (Simferopol, Ukraine).

Civil Society presents On the Ideology of Liberalism, Truth and Good by Pr. G. N. Gumnitsky (Ivanovo).

Published By Way of Discussion are The Love for Meaning and the Meaning of Education by Pr. V. G. Torosyan (Krasnodar); The Sociology of Human Rights as a Branch of Science by R. M. Musayev, Visiting Scholar, Moscow State University; Is Philosophical Materialism Obsolete? By Pr. A. V. Yerakhtin (Ivanovo); Marx’s Formations Theory in the Present-day Light by Pr. S. V. Sokolov (Nizhny Novgorod); Philosophy and Economy by Pr. V. D. Ivshin (Moscow); In the Direction of “Existential” Materialism by Pr. E. A. Taisina (Kazan); On the Nature of the Virtual by Pr. I. I. Bulychov (Ivanovo).

See History and Philosophy of Science for The Doomsday Science by Pr. V. A. Kutyryov (Nizhny Novgorod).

To learn more about the Union of Philosophy and Natural Sciences read Contemporary Astronomy: The Problem of Universe Self-organisation by T. N. Makarov, postgraduate student (Moscow) and A Study in the Categories of Finite and Infinite by Ye. G. Loginov (Moscow).

Read Continuing the Debate for Faith and Knowledge: On the Danger of Counterpoising Them While Teaching “The Basics of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics” by Assoc. Pr. Yu. R. Furmanov (St. Petersburg); and Faith and Knowledge: Two Noncrossing Lines? by A. B. Shulyndin (Nizhny Novgorod).

Philosophical Anthropology presents On the Debates About Human Nature by Pr. L. P. Buyeva (Moscow).

Philosophy of Culture presents At the 23rd Tehran International Book Fair by B. S. Yesenkin, D. Econ. Sc. (Moscow).

Read Philosophy of Nation’s Health for On the Problem of Moratorium on Cloning Humans by Pr. I. V. Vushev (Chelyabinsk).

Read Global Studies for information about the IAGS [International Association for Global Studies]: A New International Organisation by Pr. A G. Pyrin (Moscow).

See Eurasianism: Prospects of Comprehension for The Zoroastrian Roots of Eurasianism by Assoc. Pr. Gudrat Seifi (Moscow).

Feedback presents analytical reviews of RPhS Bulletin 2010:1 by an independent observer Pr. V. F. Druzhinin (Moscow), and RPhS Bulletins 2009:3-4 & 2010:1 by S. S. Peruansky, Cand. Phys.-Math. Sc. (Moscow).

See the Young Philosopher’s Page for The Medieval Construction of Space-Time in Contemporary Culture by N. V. Minkova, postgraduate student (Moscow).

See Rejoinder for A Religious Rite as a Service by Pr. A. G. Pyrin (Moscow).

Standpoint presents The Philosophy of the Variable World by V. V. Farmakovsky (Nizhny Novgorod); Is Esoteric to Be Taken Seriously? By Pr. Ye. V. Zolotukhina-Abolina and Pr. V. Ye. Zolotukhin (Rostov-on-Don); On Morality and Freedom by V. I. Dolzhenko (Moscow).

Read Polemics for How a Professor from Nizhny Novgorod Whipped Himself by Pr. N. M. Solodukho (Kazan), a response to Philosophy as a Game of Thimbles (RPhS Bulletin 2009:4).

Read Jubilee for Back to Lenin: Rethinking the Truths of Socialism: Towards the 140th Anniversary of V. I. Lenin by Pr. V. V. Mantatov (Ulan-Ude); and The Glorious Son of the Sakha People: Towards the 100th Anniversary of A. E. Mordvinov by Ivan Borisov, journalist (Yakutsk).

Our Contemporaries celebrate the 80th birthday of Yu. F. Karyakin.

Read Philosophers Joke Too for The Divine Comedy, a play by Pr. K. N. Lyubutin (Yekaterinburg).

The Poetic Page presents verses by David Dubrovsky (Moscow) and Larisa Matros (St. Louis, USA).

Mentioned as Noteworthy is information about the International Conference (with elements of school) of Young Scholars on Endowments: From Theory to Practice (October 1-5, 2010, Sochi); the Russian National Conference on Ethnos, Nation, Society: The Russian Realities and Prospects (October 2010, Moscow); the Russian National Conference on Modernisation of Russia: Science, Education, and High Technologies (November 15-17, 2010, Moscow); the Russian National (with international participation) Scientific and Philosophical Conference on the Situationality of Being (November 11-12, 2010, Kazan); the publication of he Philosophical Calendar, commemorating the 90th birthday of F. H. Kessidi.

Looking for a Job has become a regular column.

See also book reviews, annotations, book announcements, information about books published by members of the Institute of Philosophy, RAS, in 2009, books and journals available at the RPhS Presidium, doctoral (6) and candidate (47) dissertations in philosophy defended in the second quarter of 2010. Read also information about the forthcoming competition in philosophical writing.

Published also are letters of congratulations on jubilees and other notable events in philosophers’ lives and obituaries.

The Bulletin’s subscription index in the Rospechat Catalogue is 79643. Please, send your e-mail messages addressed to the RPhS Presidium and the RPhS Bulletin Editorial Board to rphs@iph.ras.ru. Our Internet websites are www.logic.ru/~phil-soc; www.dialog21.ru; www.globalistika.ru; www.rosfilos.org. To contact the Editors, please, call (495) 609-90-76 or (495) 697-92-98.

NIGERIA

The Nigerian Philosophical Association announces its 2010 Biennial General Meeting and Conference which is being held May 12th-15th at the Benue State University Makurdi.

Theme : Truth, Knowledge and Society

Sub-Themes:

1. Contemporary Epistemological issues and Questions

2. The Social Production of Knowledge

3. The relativism or otherwise of logic and truth

4. The epistemological and philosophical significance of technology

5. Knowledge, beliefs and value

6. Knowledge morality and Social Action

7. Knowledge and Technological Acquisition and Transfer

8. The nature and significance of African and other non-western knowledge systems

9. Rationality and Cross-cultural dialogue

10. Epistemology and inter-culturalism

VENUE: Benue State University Makurdi

Arrival: 12th may 2010

Opening Ceremony:13th May, 2010

Departure: 15th May 2010

Professor J.C.A Agbakoba PhD M.W. Anshi PhD

President Secretary General

E-mail: jocagbakoba@yahoo.co.nz E-mail: amwang26@yahoo.com

SLOVAQUIE

L’Association slovaque de philosophie organise, en collaboration avec l’Association Jan Hus (Paris), l’Institut de philosophie (Bratislava) et la Schola Philosophica (Trnava), la XIXe université philosophique francophone d'été Jan Hus. Le thème de l’université qui aura lieu du 4 juillet au 9 juillet au château de Smolenice sera "Les passions de l'âme ". À l’université prendront part environ quarante universitaires, doctorants et étudiants de la France, de la Slovaquie, de la Tchéquie, de l'Hongrie et de la Pologne. Parmi les participants il y aura E. Balibar, E. Escoubas, J. Pechar, M. Marcelli et bien d'autres.

TURKEY

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF TURKEY / TÜRKİYE FELSEFE KURUMU

Activities from September 2009 to August 2010

President: Ioanna Kuçuradi, Vice-president: Betül Çotuksöken, Secretary General: Gülriz Uygur, Treasurer: Harun Tepe, Member of the Executive Board responsible for Education: Sevgi İyi.

At the National Level:

1) The annual seminar on Present-day Philosophy held in Istanbul on December 4 and 5, 2009 and hosted by the Department of Philosophy of Maltepe University. After the inaugural speech delivered by Ioanna Kuçuradi, papers were presented by Ömer Naci Soykan (“An Approach to Body-Mind Problem from the Viewpoint of Forms of Expression ”), Gürol Irzık (“Looking at Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions from Todays Standpoint), Mustafa Dağlı (“How can Philosophy be applied?”), Zeynep Direk (“Laïcité and Derrida”), Kaan Özkan (“Critique of the Metaphysics of Existence”), Hülya Durudoğan (“Judith Butler on the Relation between Biological Gender and Social Gender”), Hatice Nur Erkızan (“On Feminism and Rationalism”), Sıtkı Erinç (“Contemporary Philosophy and the Art it Produced”), Betül Çotuksöken (“The Concepts of Structure and Function in Present-day Philosophy”) and Gülriz Uygur (“One of the Main Problems of Present-day Legal Philosophy: Can the Detachment Criteria of Legal Positivism be Content-free?”).

Doğan Özlem, Kurtul Gülenç, Ioanna Kuçuradi and Betül Çotuksöken chaired the sessions.

2) Organization of the XIVth National Philosophy Olympiad on March 7, 2010, in twelve centres all over Turkey.

3) Organization of a conference series entitled “Looking at the World through Philosophy” for Hitit University (Çorum): “Looking at Education through Philosophy” by Betül Çotuksöken, “Looking at Law through Philosophy” by Gülriz Uygur, “Looking at Science through Philosophy” by Kurtul Gülenç, “Looking at the Human Being through Philosophy” by Sevgi İyi, “Looking at Politics through Philosophy” by Ahu Tunçel, “Looking at Human Rights through Philosophy” by Ioanna Kuçuradi, “Looking at Present-day Problems through Philosophy” by Harun Tepe, “Looking at Literature through Philosophy” by Kaan Özkan, “Looking at Life through Philosophy” by Demet Taşdelen and “Looking at Living Together through Philosophy” by Hülya Durudoğan.

At the International Level:

Organization of a philosophical section in the biennial conference of the Ankara Bar Association on January 11-15, 2010.

Publications:

– Ioanna Kuçuradi, Sanata Felsefeyle Bakmak (Looking at Art from a Philosophical Perspective) 2009, fourth edition.

– Ioanna Kuçuradi, Nietzsche ve İnsan (Nietzsche and the Human Being), 2009, fifth edition.

– Ioanna Kuçuradi, İnsan ve Değerleri (Man and Values), 2010, fourth edition.

– Ioanna Kuçuradi (ed.), İnsan Haklarının Felsefi Temelleri (Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights), 2009, third edition.

– Harun Tepe (ed.), Meslek Etikleri (Professional Ethics), 2009, second edition.

– Immanuel Kant, Pratik Aklın Eleştirisi / Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, 2009, bilingual fourth edition.

Projects of Activities in Fall 2010 and 2011:

– Organization, in October 2010, of a course on “Philosophy and Poetry”.

– Organization, on December 2-3, 2010, of the yearly Istanbul Seminar on “Widespread Misunderstandings in the History of Philosophy”.

– Implementation of the “The Strategy of Philosophy in Turkey”.

– Organization of the XVth National Philosophy Olympiad in March 2011.

– Organization of the General Assembly of the Society in October 2011.

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETIES

Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP)

Letter from the President

It is a special pleasure to introduce the new General Secretary of The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP), Professor Edward Joseph Alam.

Birthdays are always happy occasions, with perspectives looking both to the past and to the future. This happened at my 80th birthday party in Shanghai. We looked back upon decades of cooperation with philosophers around the world. Especially we looked to the future and identified a younger but mature philosopher who will carry this work forward, namely, Edward Alam.

Professor Alam has always been a bridge thinker. After teaching in the United States he returned

to his parents’ country of origin, Lebanon, to raise his family and continue there his work as professor of philosophy. As director of international academic affairs he took up the traditional relations with the Mediterranean and Europe. But at the same time he turned eastward to develop extensive contacts in Iran, India, South East and East Asia — all areas of intensive RVP concentration.

It is then with confidence as great as our hopes that Professor Alam has been invited to assume

the post of RVP General Secretary with special concern for the continued coordination and development of its signature global network of philosophical research teams. This he has already taken up with great generosity and energy, as can be seen from what follows.

As for myself, I remain as RVP President where I will continue to apply my full energy, now enhanced and applied by Professor Alam with whom I would ask you to cooperate in every way.

Professor William Sweet with his rich philosophical capabilities and broad experiences has been

designated as Vice President for Research. Ms Hu Yeping continues as Vice President for Operations, a post she carries out with amazing reach and competency.

We look forward to cooperating in the continued research work in philosophy by you and your

colleagues.

George F. McLean

February, 2010

Letter from the General Secretary

Might I begin this newsletter with a personal note of gratitude for the confidence reflected in my nomination to the position of General Secretary of the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP). In accepting I do so with acknowledgement of the long and outstanding work done over the years and in the hope of moving this ahead in step with the emerging philosophical modes and opportunities opened by these global times.

As we complete the first decade of the 21st century, the Council looks forward with great hope and expectation. 2010 promises to be as rich and rewarding as was 2009. The last year began with a series of 10 colloquia across the Isle of Java, Indonesia. It ended with Charles Taylor and Francis Cardinal George in a public forum in Washington D.C. which launched a 15 month research project on the theme “Faith in a Secular Age”. This reflected how, during recent years, the broad human search for the metaphysical and value basis of social life — the proper emphasis of RVP activities — has deepened to include the relation between the Sacred and the Secular. These events were punctuated in between by activities in Vietnam, Cambodia , China , Lebanon and Iran.

The Council urgently invites your continued cooperation and participation and looks forward to receiving your input and suggestions regarding ways to extend the outreach of this cooperative effort in philosophy and to deepen its contributions in this global age. The Council wishes to thank the Ford Foundation, the H&L Bradley Foundation, the Raskob Family Foundation, the OSVI, the OST and the Norton family for their continued support.

The following activities are planned in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and America in 2010:

 February 3-5, the RVP coordinator for Africa, Professor J. Agbakoba of Nigeria, organized an international conference in Ghana on globalization and intercultural philosophy.

 February 6-20, meetings in Ethiopia and Uganda with the RVP regional coordinators at Addis Ababa University (Professor W. Kelbessa) and Makerere University (Professor E. Wamala) respectively, in order to strengthen the growing network in Africa through public lectures and meetings.

 April 19-22, 2010: The RVP and the University of Lagos will sponsor an international conference on Higher Education and Peace Culture: Whither Africa? Particularly promising is the expressed desire on the part of prominentphilosophers to establish an RVP chapter at the University of Lagos. Presently, the details of this agreement arebeing worked out. Professor Joseph Agbakoba as area coordinator will represent the RVP at this conference.

 June 24-26, the RVP coordinator in Poland, Professor T. Buksinski, is organizing an international conference at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland on the theme “Religion and the Public Sphere”.

 June 29-30, an international conference is being organized by Professor A. Karas, the RVP regional coordinator, at Ivan Franco University, Lviv, Ukraine on “The Identity of the Person in the Age of Globalization”.

 October, Professor Tran Van Doan, RVP Regional coordinator in Taiwan, and President of the AACP, will organize two back to back conferences in Shanghai and National Taiwan University in Taipei, the details of which are soon to be announced.

 One of the most exciting developments of 2010 will be the inauguration at Fudan University in Shanghai, in conjunction with the RVP, of a new Center for the Study of Chinese Culture in Global Context.

 October 11-November 19, the annual Fall RVP seminar will be on Human Identity or Nature: Stable and/or Changing?.

For further information on the 2010 programs, as well as reports on 2009 activities see below and/or visit www.crvp.org .

Edward Joseph Alam

February, 2010

Fall 2010 Seminar: Human Identity or Nature: Stable and/or Changing?

Washington, D.C., October 11-November 19, 2010: The tragedies of the last century have made the definition and justification of absolute human rights a most pressing necessity. But the task of understanding human identity or nature and its authenticity or dignity which these rights are meant to defend has proven elusive, even as the need intensifies. Indeed, in some ways we may be moving ever further from achieving this task.

Hence this seminar will begin with a study of the critiques — from Ockham and Bacon via Darwin to Rorty — of the notion of human nature and understanding of science which would do

away with nature. Indeed, the very term ‘nature,’ whether in its substantive or adjectival form, has changed radically over these last few centuries. Moreover, changes in meaning to the substantive form of the term necessarily bring about changes in the meaning of the adjectives that qualify it. Thus, divine and human as describing 'nature' have themselves been drastically altered. These conceptual changes, which began in the West, are now being felt across the globe as the related epistemology of the via moderna and its sciences imposes itself.

By way of response, the seminar will seek to restore the relation of reason to wisdom; it will

turn to the nature of science in order to determine the necessary but not restrictive role of sense experience in its relation to the imagination and the intellect. Thence it will look for nature, and hence the human essence or identity, as the proper and unchanging object of the human intellect. This will be studied as the metaphysical or existential basis for human dignity and hence of human rights.

But therein lies our dilemma, for to the degree that human nature or identity is stable must it be said to be immutable and thereby an impediment to human progress? Or if changing, to what

rights does it entitle one: when and for how long? For answers to these questions the seminar will look to the more recent groundbreaking phenomenological, existential, and hermeneutical developments, as these contribute to discovery with respect to the philosophical anthropology and ethics, aesthetics and indeed the metaphysical wisdom required for human fulfilment in these times and beyond.

Invitation to Apply for Participation:

Applications for participation in this seminar should be sent by email by March 20, 2010, to

cua-cscv@cua.edu and include:

(1) a vita describing one’s education, professional positions and activities,

(2) a list of the applicants’ publications,

(3) a letter stating your interest and involvement in this theme and the relation of participation

in this seminar to your past and future work in philosophy and related studies, and

(4) an abstract of a study(s) you might present as an integral part of the seminar.

Activities in 2010-11

Shanghai: Fudan University: As China emerges so brilliantly to assume its rightful place as a leading global partner it becomes especially important to attend not only to its “hard” industrial power, but to the “soft power” of its philosophical culture and values. This is key to its being a welcomed partner in global affairs, contributing the riches of its long traditions to the heritage of humankind. After the extensive series of annual conferences there since 1987 on the various aspects of nation building, the RVP now joins with Fudan University in establishing its Center for the Study of Chinese Culture in Global Context, which will be located on its main campus in Shanghai. Its work will be to advance and adapt China’s ancient and contemporary cultural traditions for these global times. The RVP world network of philosophy teams will help relate this effort to the hopes and concerns of all for an harmonious global future. In turn, the Center will be an open bridge meshing the philosophical concerns of the RVP teams to those of China. This is in addition to the new Center at Notre Dame University under Professor Edward Alam in Beirut, Lebanon. Further the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP), the world coordinating body of all philosophical societies, will now co-sponsor all RVP conferences under its Committee on Intercultural Research in Philosophy, in order to extend thereby its own world outreach.

Lagos, Nigeria, April 19-22, 2010: The RVP and the University of Lagos will cosponsor an international conference on Higher Education and Peace Culture: Whither Africa? Particularly promising is the expressed desire on the part of prominent philosophers in Nigeria to establish an RVP chapter at the University of Lagos. Presently, the details of this agreement are being worked out. Professor Joseph Agbakoba of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and RVP area coordinator will represent the RVP at this conference.

Kampala, Uganda, February 10–14, 2010: Meetings between RVP General Secretary and members of the Philosophy Department at Makerere University took place in order to review the earlier publication of three volumes and to plan for future seminars and publications. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts also participated in the meetings and pledged full support of joint RVP/ Makerere activities.

Cape Coast, Ghana, February 3-5, 2010: The Department of Classics and Philosophy at the University Of Cape Coast and the RVP co-sponsored an international conference on Intercultural Philosophy, which brought together scholars from Canada, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Ghana. This was designated as well a regional conference of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP). The RVP regional coordinator in Nigeria, Professor Joseph Agbakoba, together with Professor Raymond Osei of Cape Coast, organized the conference under the title “Universalism, Relativism, and Intercultural Philosophy”. In his keynote address, Professor William Sweet of Canada addressed the complex role of migrating texts and traditions in intercultural philosophy, raising many key and difficult questions that solicited a plethora of animated responses from the over 50 scholars in attendance. In a paper titled “Reflections on Intercultural Philosophy: Avoiding the Extremes”, the RVP General Secretary also raised a number of questions meant to better define what is meant by intercultural philosophy, and noted the work of late Kenyan Philosopher, H. Odera Oruka, and his mentor at the University of Nairobi, Joseph Donders, on “sage philosophy,” noting the dynamic interplay between what Oruka called Popular and Didactic Wisdoms. Plans are underway to publish the proceedings of the conference. A delegation from the conference traveled from Cape Coast to Accra and met with the head of the Philosophy Department of the University of Ghana, Professor Helen Lauer, to discuss future RVP activities in Ghana and the upcoming annual conference of the International Society for African Philosophy and Studies (ISAPS), to be held at the University of Ghana in March, 2010.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 27-February 2, 2010: Professor Workineh Kelbessa, RVP coordinator in East Africa, invited RVP General Secretary, Edward Alam, to Addis Ababa University to discuss the development of the RVP network in East Africa. The network already has a presence and history in Uganda and Kenya reaching back to a major meeting on “Society and Truth” at the University of Nairobi in 1980 and the publication of three volumes from Makerere University, Uganda. The present aim is to encourage cooperation and collaboration among all the East African countries. While there, Professor Alam gave a paper titled “Purifying the Concept of Development: The Vocation of Religion and Culture” to the faculty and students of Addis Ababa University; other meetings with the Chairman and Faculty members of the Philosophy Department and with graduate students discussed modes of continuing collaboration. An agreement was reached to pursue a formal RVP/Addis Ababa University memorandum of understanding to promote teams of researchers from Ethiopia to mine their own rich and ancient cultural and philosophical heritage in order better to meet contemporary challenges.

Nairobi, Kenya, February 7–10, 2010: Meetings between RVP General Secretary and members of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Nairobi took place in order to review past conferences and to plan future seminars and publications.

Poznan, Poland, June 24-26, 2010: The RVP coordinator in Poland, Professor T. Buksinski, will organize an international conference at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland on the theme “Religion and the Public Sphere”. Times of change provide special opportunities to discuss society’s most important issues, among which the source of public values has emerged as of special and urgent concern. Earlier ideas and paradigms on this subject which focused on separation are now challenged. Paradoxically this secular age experiences a search for a new paradigm that enables mutual understanding and communication between the sacred and the secular spheres. The conference should be a voice in the public debate concerning the proper role of religion in public spaces.

Contact: Professor T. Buksinski, Director of the Institute of Philosophy, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland, email: (tabu@amu.edu.pl ).

Lviv, Ukraine, June 29-30, 2010. A major conference on “The Identity and Dignity of the Person in an Age of Globalization” will focus on human identity under the paradigmatic changes in the development of informational technologies, global communication and their unprecedented cultural penetration. The qualitative increase and diversification of knowledge continue to cause fragmentation in the understanding of oneself and of one’s cultural and social environment. As this threatens human civilization in new ways attention to the metaphysical and religious dimensions of human civilization becomes ever more imperative. These foundational dimensions of human civilization bring a new challenge for the present role of the sciences and humanities, of knowledge and culture, in social development. This calls for a diagnosis of classical, modern and postmodern models of theoretical, scientific, and artistic thinking related to the problems of personal identity and authenticity.

This conference will address both the potential dangers to human nature and dignity, and the potential opportunities for the realization of more authentic human freedom, which arise in the new context of human identity. It will address also the role of the spirit in the socio-political order of our global world. This entails an analysis of democratic development and the “open”–“closed” dynamic as a social reality in the philosophical trends of the 21st century. The discussion on conceptions of knowledge and reality from the point of view of contemporary developments of the sciences in general and genetics in particular, as well as of education, are important for interdisciplinary approaches to achieve new insights into human identity. Hence, the conference will discuss the nature of the explanation, understanding, and interpretation of being, social reality, human activity, and the identity of the human person. This will take into account new approaches formed at the intersection of post-structuralism and postmodernism, communicative philosophy and semiotics, philosophy of science and metaphysics both neo- Thomist and existential.

Contact: Organizing Committee (conference.lviv@gmail.com); Professor Anatoilij Karas, the Department of Philosophy, anatolijkaras@yahoo.com; Secretary: Oresta Losyk, the Department of Philosophy, o.losyk@yahoo.com .

Shanghai and Taipei, October, 2010. Professor Tran Van Doan, RVP Regional coordinator in Taiwan, and President of the AACP, will organize two back to back conferences in Shanghai and National Taiwan University in Taipei, the details of which are soon to be announced.

Rome. The Gregorian University in Rome is working on a joint RVP-Gregorian meeting for the fall of 2011 on "Religion in Public Life: Secular and Sacred," with a list of the world's great thinkers.

Lebanon. Notre Dame University in Lebanon is working on having spring RVP seminars in Beirut to match our fall RVP seminars in Washington.

Accomplishments in 2009

2009 Seminar: The Sacred and the Secular: Complementary or Conflictual? (2)

Washington, D.C. The RVP annual five week Fall Seminar was held September 28-October 16, 2009, on living cultural and religious heritages in the context recently described by Charles Taylor in his A Secular Age.

Theme: The work of Professor Taylor recounted how from a time in which it was difficult not to believe the converse has become true. Sociological surveys reflect this to be an age marked by an existential search for identity and meaning rather than by commitment to specific visions or communities. For philosophy this reopens in contemporary terms the deepest issues of immanent and transcendent values and of aspirations for human fulfillment in the socio-political and spiritual orders.

Special attention was devoted to appreciating both the unique differences and the relatedness of the world’s cultures, their relation to the achievement of secular goals, and parallel to this, the positive contribution of secular concerns for living religion fully in this world. The search was for a paradigm to enable mutual understanding and communication in which the many peoples and cultures, both sacred and secular, could relate in a positive and complementary manner. A description of the theme of this seminar, a list of seminar participants and videos can be found at http://www.crvp.org/seminar/seminar-2009-fall.htm .

A project extending this research effort is detailed below.

New RVP book distribution center

With gratitude to Ron Rolheiser, President of OST, and Donald Joyce, Director of the Donald E. O’Shaughnessy Library in San Antonio, Texas, the RVP book distribution center for the series: “Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change” has been moved to San Antonio with its inventory of 225 titles. The new director of RVP book distribution is Mr. Mathew Martin.

RVP book orders should be addressed to:

Council for Research on Values and Philosophy – OST, San Antonio, TX

(attn. Mathew Martin)

285 Oblate Dr., San Antonio, TX 78216, USA

Telephone: (210) 341-1366 x205

Email: mmartin@ost.edu

Project on Faith in a Secular Age

A Pew Foundation report indicates that typical of the exodus of people in their 20s and 30s from religious identification are young persons who seem not to have abandoned their basic beliefs or concern for the spiritual dimension of their lives, but to reflect these in an attitude of search rather than of commitment. In response, this research project will focus on unfolding the meaning of a transcendent metaphysical dimension for the needs of our evolving human awareness, its challenges and opportunities. In this sense the goal is to open this dimension for Professor Taylor’s contemporary “seeker” and indeed for all, and thereby to render all of personal and social life more fully humane and thereby more theonomous. A set of research teams or task forces will work for a 15 month period, alternating team meetings for planning and critical discussion with extended periods for personal research, reflection, and writing. This gives founded hope that light can be shed on this crucial issue of our day. Thus far two teams have been formed to focus respectively on:

(1) the interior search for meaning, led by John Haughey, S.J. of Woodstock Center at Georgetown University, and

(2) the role of belief in the socio-political order of our global world, led by William Barbieri, Ph.D. (Yale) of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America.

The teams will consist of leading scholars from across the country and beyond.

The project was launched by a dialogue of Professor Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age, and Francis Cardinal George. It aims: (a) to identify a new and deeper research focus appropriate for life in our secular age, (b) to build teams for effective exploration of new paths, and (c) to relate the findings to past heritages and present challenges.

This work is being carried forward with the support of the L.&H. Bradley Foundation and the Raskob Family Foundation.

For more information visit www.crvp.org . For video streaming both live and archived: http://live.cua.edu .

Indonesia: 10 University Conferences on “Philosophy Emerging from Culture”

Indonesia, January 4-16, 2009 the RVP in collaboration with the International Society for Islamic Philosophy (ISIP) and the Islamic College for Advanced Studies (ICAS), Jakarta, sponsored a series of 10 colloquia across the Isle of Java, Indonesia. This was carried out with the generous support of the host universities and especially of ICAS, Mizen Publishing, the H&L Bradley Foundation and the Raskob Foundation. The theme was: “Philosophy Emerging from Culture: Indonesian Culture and Islamic Thought.” The goal was to harvest the contributions of Javanese culture to Islamic thought and to share this across the Islamic crescent from Indonesia to Morocco, and indeed with all philosophers. This was an important initiative of the new International Society for Islamic Philosophy (ISIP) founded in 2008 in collaboration with the RVP.

For a full report please see http://www.crvp.org/conf/2009/java.htm .

Islam

The International Society for Islamic Philosophy (ISIP) (email: isisphy@gmail.com ), founded by the participants in the RVP Islamic seminar in March 2008, elected Professor Gholamreza Aavani, Director of the Iranian Institute of Philosophy, as President at its meeting during the World Congress of Philosophy in Seoul last August. Professor Osman Bakar, Vice Director of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies, Malaysia, was appointed Vice President in January 2009 along with a set of regional directors. With the RVP, ISIP cosponsored the 10 university conferences in Indonesia and will cosponsor as well the fall seminar on "Living Islam Faithfully in Our Day" described above. An ISIP meeting on "The status of Philosophy in the Present-day Islamic World" was held on November 11-12, 2009 in Tehran. For further information on ISIP contact Gholamreza Aavani, President of ISIP, aavani@irip.ir

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 23, 2009. The RVP held a one-day discussion with the faculty members of the Department of Philosophy at The Royal University of Phnom Penh on the future development of philosophy and philosophical education among the younger generation in Cambodia.

Biannual South East Asian Regional Conference

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 24-25, 2009, “The Role of Philosophy in the Development of South East Asia” (see full description and program on the web at www.crvp.org/conf/2009/cambodia.htm ).

In the aftermath of great tragedies a new generation of Cambodian philosophers is just emerging. A first sign of this was the offer of the Philosophical Association of Cambodia (PAC) to host the biannual South East Asian RVP regional meeting — held previously in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. This meeting was supported also by UNESCO in collaboration with the PAC and the RVP.

Theme: The first session reflected how philosophy is rooted in the culture of a people whence it emerges through a process of progressively deeper reflection and understanding. The second session identified elements especially characteristic of Cambodian philosophy. On this basis the conference then turned to the contributions which Cambodian philosophy can make to education and development and in turn the challenges which such tasks constitute for the philosophy and philosophers of South East Asia today.

Shanghai: Fudan University, June 28-29, 2009 "The Enlightenment and Its Contemporary Reevaluation".

Theme: The May 4th movement in 1919 thought it necessary to put aside the ancient wisdom of Confucius in order to usher in “Mr. Science” and “Mr. Democracy.” More recently, the very success of the resultant“hard power” of modernization has evoked a rethinking of May 4th. Issues treated were: what is the present role of the "soft power" of the classical Chinese culture, values and virtues put aside in 1919? Are these now needed to inspire and humanize the powers of the Enlightenment in order that all might continue to benefit from their fruits? Rather than being exiled, could Confucius and his classical confreres be needed more than ever in these postmodern times as genial hosts able to make the “two misters” truly and fruitfully at home?

Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, July 2-3, 2009 "Diversity in Unity: Harmony in a Global Age".

Theme: Global times call for the protection, promotion and interrelation of human diversity and creativity.In order for these multiple and diverse humane factors to make their rich contribution to social well-being in these times of global interaction they must be able to be appreciated not as conflictual, but as complementary and relational. Does this, in turn, call for a new paradigm in which they are understood as existing within a larger, integrating whole? Will this enable the diverse realities to be essentially related, not merely physically, but in terms that engage the human search for meaning and purpose? What are the keys to the respect for nature and for one another on which truly global comity can be built? If philosophy looks even further for the principles which reveal all as intelligible or true and as life giving or good, does this call for a renewed understanding of the classical unity of “all under heaven” (Tian Xia), both for its inherent relationality and for the implications of this source and goal for the meaning and purpose of all? Here the classical philosophical issue of the one and the many reemerges in the present terms of the global whole.

Shanghai, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, June 30, 2009. Invited by the former Presidentof the Institutes, Professor Yu Xintian, the RVPdelegation visited the Institutes and had a fruitfuldiscussion on issues related to culture and internationalrelations, the role of Chinese traditional culturein the future development between China andEast Asia, Central Asia and South Asia; the role ofreligion in the international relations; the properpolicies of China in its relations with other countries.

Xian: Xian Jiaotong University, July 5, 2009 "The Role of Philosophy in the Development of China's Northwest".

Theme: Philosophy is challenged to guide the process of change along progressive paths that perfect and improve the status of nature and of humanity itself. For this it is necessary to understand human nature and continuingly to evaluate and adjust possible action so that the immense human effort, now broadly integrated across civilizations, will be positive and constructive. This evaluative task is extensive as it touches upon every aspect of the changing world. It is itself multilayered, reaching from utilitarian and selfinterested advantage to an ever deeper sense of the human person, to a broader and more inclusive range of social reality, and to the natural world in which we live, which we shape and by which in turn we are shaped.

Xian, Xian Jiantong University, July 6, 2009 "Ethics in Public Administration and Citizen Participation".

Theme: This built upon three conferences in 2007 and 2008 in which scholars in the field of public administration from China and overseas discussed the ethics course in the Public Administration program (MPA). It attended to the development of citizen participation, with special attention to the social and economic development of China’s great Northwest centered in the five major provinces of Shanxi, Xingjiang, Guanshu, Ningxia, Qinghai. The conference sought positive suggestions for policy on these issues, especially regarding ways in which public administrators can engage citizen participation in relation to development. Thus it sought to summarize field experience, to broaden vision for the development of ethics in public administration, and to train related leadership. Support for this program was provided by the Chinese National MPA Education Steering Committee with coordination by the RVP.

New Books Published by the RVP in 2009 in its Series “Cultural Heritages and Contemporary Change”

 Vol. I.36 Kantian Imperatives and Phenomenological Force; by Randolph C. Wheeler.

 Vol. I.38 Religion and Culture; by George F. McLean

 Vol. II.12 The Struggle after the Struggle, Zimbabwean Philosophical Studies, I; edited by David Kaulemu

 Vol. IIA.19 Understanding Other Religions: Al-Biruni and Gadamer’s “Fusion of Horizons”; Islamic Philosophical Studies, XIX; by Kemal Ataman

 Vol. IIIB.13 Faith and Reason Today: Fides et Ratio in a Post-modern Era, Indian Philosophical Studies, XIII; edited by Varghese Manimala

 Vol. IIID.5 The History of Buddhism in Vietnam, Vietnamese Philosophical Studies, I; edited by Nguyen Tai Thu and Hoang Thi Tho

 Vol. IIID.6 Relations Between Religions and Cultures in Southeast Asia, Indonesian Philosophical Studies, I; edited by Gadis Arivia and Donny Gahral Adian

 Vol. IIID.7 Rethinking the Role of Philosophy in the Global Age; Vietnamese Philosophical Studies, III; edited by William Sweet and Pham Van Duc

 Vol.IIA.33 Diversity and Dialogue: Culture and Values in a Global Age; edited by Andrew Blasko and Plamen Makariev

 Vol. IVA.37 Truth and Morality: The Role of Truth in Public Life, Romanian Philosophical Studies, VII; edited by Wilhelm Dancă

 Vol.VII.25 Globalization and Identity; edited by Andrew Blasko, Taras Dobko, Pham Van Duc and George Pattery

The full text of RVP titles is available for free download on the web and also in the Google Book Partner Program: One major project in 2009 was the successful uploading of the full text (in html free downloadable format) of all RVP books to www.crvp.org. Please see “publications” on this website. Additionally, full text, exact image versions of all RVP books are now available through the Google Book Search Partner Program. Though not downloadable there, all pages of each book appear in exact image for word search and research citation. Search by author or title of any book or individual chapter at www.books.google.com .

International Association for the Philosophy of Sport (IAPS)

Conference announcement:

You are cordially invited to the 38th Annual Meeting of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport to be held at the Università degli Studi di Roma “Foro Italico” (aka) Italian University of Movement Sciences Rome, Italy: September 15-19, 2010

http://www.iaps-rome-2010.com/

VENUE: The Università degli Studi di Roma “Foro Italico” (www.iusm.it) is Italy’s only university dedicated to sport sciences and human movement. Housed in the beautiful and historic Foro Italico, it offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the sport sciences. University facilities include various classrooms and lecture halls as well as formal reception areas and extensive sports facilities.

LOCATION: Foro Italico is a historic sports complex built between 1928 and 1938 by Mussolini and others in homage to the glorious fora of ancient Rome. The complex combines historic athletic art and venues, such as the Stadio dei Marmi and 1930s mosaics, as well as Stadio Olympico, host of the 1960 Games, and 1990 World Cup. The University is housed in a historic building shared with the Italian National Olympic Committee.

RECREATION: We plan to devote the traditional Saturday afternoon to recreation. Options will include participatory activities, perhaps a friendly soccer game, as well as spectator opportunities. With luck there will be the opportunity to view an important event at the Olympic stadium or tennis stadium. We also plan to organize a sports-themed tour of Ancient Rome including important sites (Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Piazza Navona) as well as important athletic art (i.e. the Discus Thrower marbles and bronze Boxer). This in addition to Rome’s extensive arts and tourism opportunities, all easily accessible by public transportation from the conference site.

Conference Organizers:

Heather L. Reid

Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa USA reid@morningside.edu

Emanuele Isidori

Università degli Studi di Roma “Foro Italico” emanuele.isidori@iusm.it

Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie

Newsletter Spring-Summer 2010