Introduction
The jubilee XXV World Philosophical Congress, which was held in Rome from 1 to 8 August 2024 under the motto «Philosophy across Borders», has completed its work [1].
The World Philosophical Congresses have been held every five years since 1900 under the auspices of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie, (FISP), and are the largest forums in the field of philosophy. The official documents state that 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 influence of philosophical knowledge on solving global problems of our time.
In Italy, the World Philosophical Congresses have already been held three times (in Bologna in 1911, Naples in 1924 and Venice in 1958). The congress was held in Rome for the first time. We can say that the Italians were just lucky. The fact is that at first this congress was planned to be held in Melbourne (Australia), but due to the covid epidemic and financial problems, it was decided to move the congress to Rome.
Materials and methods of research
First of all, the well-known four rules of the Descartes’ scientific research method [2, pp. 256-262] were applied in the article: intuitive insight is a direct immersion into the very atmosphere of the congress, analysis, generalization and consideration of all objective circumstances, of events and reports. The method of textual analysis of the congress program was used. Empirical research methods were also relevant for us: observation, fixation, comparison, classification and understanding of events taking place at the congress.
Opening of the Congress
It opened on August 1 in the late evening in the open air in the Baths of Caracalla (ital.: Terme di Caracalla) in Rome, where the ancient Romans loved to spend time discussing topical issues of the political and economic life of the country. The construction of the Baths was completed in 217 AD after the death of Emperor Caracalla, so they are officially called Antonina baths. After greetings from the Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri, Rector of Sapienza University Antonella Polimeni, President of the Italian Organizing Committee Emidio Spinelli and President of FISP and the XXV World Philosophical Congress Luca Maria Scarantino, the artists of the Rome Opera House performed three arias from the opera by J. Puccini’s «Tosca».
The Congress itself was held at the oldest university in Rome and one of the largest higher educational institutions in Europe, La Sapienza (ital.: Sapienza Università di Roma), founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII. The name of the university means «wisdom» in Latin.
The reports were severely selected: the Congress program committee selected 4309 applications from 109 countries and 997 articles for presentations at student sessions for 89 sections (Russian students should think about participating in the XXVI World Philosophical Congress, which will be held in Tokyo in 2028).
In addition to the sections, 5 plenary sessions, 10 symposiums and more than 300 Round tables were held. Professors invited by the Program Committee also spoke. Meetings of philosophical societies from different countries, a FISP meeting, invited sessions and other events were held. There were also accompanying persons at the congress who did not make presentations at the sections, but could speak at the «Round Tables».
The purpose of the Congress
One of the tasks of the Congress was to show that the philosophy of women is as important for humanity as the philosophy of men, and the philosophy of African peoples is no less important than European philosophy. Therefore, there were two sections at the congress devoted to African Philosophy (separately the philosophy of Africa and separately the philosophy of the Caribbean), but, unfortunately, for some unknown reasons the section «German philosophy» was not included in the general list of sections.
Various philosophical issues of ontology, epistemology, anthropology, social philosophy, philosophy of technology, ethics, aesthetics, history of philosophy and problems of national philosophy were discussed at plenary sessions, symposiums, round tables and sections.
It is also important to note that in recent years preceding the Congress, there have been certain changes in the value system of Western European philosophers. Thus, the famous French philosopher, the creator of the theory of deconstruction, Jacques Derrida, who yesterday was the idol of European philosophy, today almost no one is interested in his philosophy. On 552 pages of the Program no reports dedicated to his work could be found among representatives of Western Europe. Derrida saw the meaning of his work in overcoming traditional European philosophy, but it turned out the opposite, Western philosophy «overcame» Derrida himself. Note that Derrida is also ignored in the Anglo-American tradition of analytical philosophy. Interest in this philosopher has moved to other countries: Chinese comrades devoted two whole speeches to him. It is possible that this is due to the desire of some Chinese philosophers to understand the principles of deconstruction of political systems.
Many philosophical questions often focused on the problem of social and especially gender inequality, which acquires new meanings and development trends against the background of the development of modern global civilization. Here we would like to draw attention to the symposium on the role of women in the history of philosophy. The performance of Marie Pauline Ebo (Federal Republic of Nigeria) was particularly striking.
Such social problems of the «gender war of the sexes» could not overshadow the overall bright atmosphere of the Congress. Thanks to its ancient history and culture, Rome has become a real place of spiritual and intellectual stimulation for scientists from all over the world. Here it is appropriate to quote the words from the welcoming speech of the President of the Italian organizing Committee, Emidio Spinelli that «Rome will once again become a crossroads for fruitful communication between a wide variety of people. By welcoming people from all over the world, the city will become an excellent platform for presenting and discussing its own views and proposals, its own special and unique approach to the world»[1]. This did not remain only a good wish, but was really embodied in the work of the Congress.
We were struck by the true love of many and many scientists and teachers from different countries and peoples for philosophy, who came to Rome, despite their advanced age and difficult weather conditions: the temperature in Rome rose to 36-37 degrees Celsius during the day. Before our eyes, some delegates fainted from overwork and fainted. We must pay tribute to the efficiency of Italian medicine; the ambulance immediately took people to the hospital.
Important organizational changes
It is impossible to ignore some significant organizational changes that have occurred as a result of the current political situation in the world over the past two years. All representatives of Russia in the World Philosophical Organization were removed from the leadership. Now there will be no one to represent the interests of our domestic philosophers at the international level. Nevertheless, Russian speech could be heard quite often both at sections and at Round Tables and other events. The attempt to withdraw Russian from the eight official languages of the Congress has completely failed thanks to our friends from different countries, primarily from the republics of Central Asia, who have come out in defense of the Russian language.
English remained the international language of communication. However, philosophers preferred to speak their national languages, Chinese in Chinese, French in French, Germans in German, and Russians in Russian, when given the opportunity at sections and round tables. The main thing is that there was no Russophobia at the Congress during the communication process. All the delegates treated each other with sincere respect.
Famous western philosophers at the Congress
Among the participants of the Congress were such famous thinkers as the President of the XIX World Congress of Philosophy, Italian philosopher and professor of the University of Genoa Evandro Agazzi, who gave the final lecture on August 8. Unfortunately, due to his advanced age (89 years old) he performed on-line.
It was also possible to see and talk at the sessions with the President of the XXIII World Philosophical Congress, William Leon McBride. Our attention was attracted by David John Chalmers, who wrote the monograph «The Conscious Mind» in 1996 [3]., and Ph.D., university Professor Jeffrey David Sachs, an American economist and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Eduard Vasilyevich Demenchonok, a professor of foreign languages and philosophy from Fort Valley State University in Georgia, USA, actively worked at the Congress. He is included in the list of 2000 outstanding scientists of the XXI century and is the recipient of the XXI Century Prize for Achievements in philosophy from the International Biographical Center in Cambridge, UK. It should be noted that from 1999 to 2019 he was a member of the Russian Philosophical Society. At the congress, Eduard Vasilyevich co-chaired the Round Table «Philosophy, Globalization, Education and Peace», organized and held another Round table on the topic «Intercultural dialogue in a multipolar world: challenges and opportunities».
Russian philosophers at the Congress
The Program Committee included 80 speakers from Russia in the work of the congress sections, which is easy to see by watching the congress program. However, out of 80 invited Russian philosophers, only 25 people arrived in Rome. There were, of course, accompanying persons or guests from Russia who did not perform at the sections. For comparison, we point out that 161 speakers at the sections and 24 accompanying persons arrived from Russia in Beijing for the XXIV World Philosophical Congress (2018); 467 speakers and guests arrived from Russia to participate in the Congress in Athens (2013); 166 speakers and guests arrived from Russia in Seoul (2008) [4, pp. 15-21].
So, 25 Russian speakers from the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, South Ural State Humanitarian Pedagogical University (Chelyabinsk), National University of Science and Technology «MISIS», Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin (Yekaterinburg), The Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (St. Petersburg), Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics, Novosibirsk State University, Saratov State University named after N. G. Chernyshevsky spoke at the sections in Rome. Three philosophers from Kazan attended the congress.
The «Russian Philosophy» section was chaired by Evert van der Zweerd (Kingdom of the Netherlands), known for the 2017 book «An Outside View of the History of Russian and Soviet Philosophy». At the XXIV World Philosophical Congress in Beijing, Russian philosophers headed 10 sections, none in Rome. At the section «Philosophy of Culture», P. V. Chelyshev, Doctor of Philosophical sciences, Professor of the Department of Social Sciences and Technologies of the Institute of Basic Education of NUST MISIS, made a report on the topic «Philosophy of Culture of Aurobindo Ghosh: from barbarism, civilization and Culture to the spiritual transformation of man». At the same section, the message «Culture as a way to overcome unpredictability» A. D. Korolev, Senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke.
Of the major Russian specialists who came to the congress, one can only point to Ilya Theodorovich Kasavin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philosophical sciences, Head of the Social Epistemology Sector of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, President of the Russian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science. On his initiative and under his leadership, the invited session «Science in a Free Society» was successfully held for the 100 th anniversary of Paul Feyerabend.
Contribution at the Congress of philosophers of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova to the treasury of world philosophy
Thanks to such remarkable leaders as Director of the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus Anatoly Arkadievich Lazarevich, Chief Researcher of the Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Religion of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Ayazhan Sagievna Sagikyz and Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, The head of the Department «Philosophy and Methodology of Science» of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Mirzo Ulugbek National University of Uzbekistan Nigina Arslanovna Shermukhamedova adequately represented the philosophy of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at the Rome Congress.
A.A. Lazarevich was the cohead of the «Round Table» «Philosophy, Globalization, Education and Peace». A. S. Sagikyzy was one of the heads of the section «Philosophy of Culture», and N. A. Shermukhamedova was one of the heads of the section «Political Philosophy», and also organized and with great success held the announced session «Philosophical heritage of the Turkic peoples».
There was only one speaker from Moldova at the congress: Tatyana Borisovna Batyr, Doctor of Philosophical sciences. She spoke at the section «Teaching Philosophy» with the report «To inspire and be inspired by philosophy», emphasizing in her speech that teaching philosophy should not only be an activity in terms of lecturing, writing philosophical books and articles or methodological recommendations for students; teaching philosophy means having a special mission for society and to be aware of it.
Presidential election, 2024
There were three nominees for the position of the new president of FISP: Heisook Kim was elected new President of FISP in November 2024! She won 56,10% of the vote. Congratulations to the new president on her victory. «Heisook Kim (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Professor of philosophy at Ewha Womans University, Korea. She has been President of the Korean Philosophical Association, President of Korean Association of Feminist Philosophy and President of Korean Analytic Philosophy. She was Nominated by the International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPh), the Red Española de Filosofía (REF) and the Korean Philosophical Association. Endorsed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Philosophie» [5].
The problem of the Congress name
Finally, we would like to add a few words about the general theme of the Congress – «Philosophy beyond borders». For the first time, such a topic was discussed in 2001 at the Faculty of Philosophy of Lomonosov Moscow State University as part of an international philosophical seminar [6]. And now the XXV World Philosophical Congress is being held under the same slogan, which causes some confusion. It seems that everything exists within certain boundaries, the overstepping of which leads to the destruction, rather than the unification of traditional ideas about the world, man and society in one or another national philosophy. There is a certain contradiction between the general purpose of the Congress and its result, which was quite rightly pointed out in her article «Philosophy beyond Borders» (for the upcoming XXV World Philosophical Congress) the famous Russian philosopher, Doctor of Philosophical sciences, professor M.T. Stepanyants. [7, pp. 5-13].
Conclusion
First of all, we can note the good organization of the Congress. But at the same time, we regret that the materials of the congress were not printed in paper form, which greatly complicated the daily work. Secondly, Russian philosophers, despite certain economic and political difficulties, were still able to come to Rome and adequately speak at the Congress on a number of topical issues of globalism, anthropology, social and national philosophy. Thirdly, it is important that there was no noticeable Russophobia in the daily communication of delegates. This concerned delegates from different countries and philosophers from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and the Czech Republic were especially positive. The final results: The Congress fulfilled its main task – a free exchange of opinions of hundreds of philosophers from all over the world took place. This will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the further development of the world philosophy. Goodbye, Rome, 2024! Hello, Tokyo, 2028! Registration for the XXVI World Philosophical Congress will begin in 2026. Don’t miss it!