A Service of the Conference of Philosophical Societies
ISSN 1090-3240
Information on the Calendar and Submission of Announcements
|
G. John M. Abbarno,
President |
RVP, Calendar
Editor Washington, D.C., 20064 Tel./Fax:
202/319-6089 |
Minutes:
The
Meeting of Conference of Philosophical Societies (CoPS)
December 28, 2005, New York
Place:
Concord B, New York Hilton
Time:
14.00-17.00, December 28, 2005
Participants:
G. John M. Abbarno, Hu Yeping, William McBride, George F. McLean, Gail M.
Presbey, Vincent Shen, Christian Perring, Kate Wininger, Joseph Betz, Cung-ying
Chang, Leonard Harris.
The
CoPS’s meeting was begun by John M. Abbarno, the Director of the organization,
introducing the theme “What Philosophy Can Do for Today?” and invited the
representatives of the various philosophical societies to introduce their own
organizations and specific issues concerning their own research fields.
Hu
Yeping briefly mentioned what had been done in the previous year and asked for
advice for the ongoing work of the CoPS.
The
following themes, circulated in advance, was addressed by the panel.
With
the opening of the new semester -- and administration -- as professors of
philosophy we return to the fray, hopefully with renewed energy. Now more than
ever our work takes on exceptional urgency as the world becomes mired in more
complexities and levels of danger and anxiety rise.
The
theme of the XXIst World Congress of Philosophy, “Philosophy Facing Human
Problems” called on Philosophical Societies to engage the issues of the day
and to work together to generate needed insights. This letter extends an
invitation by The Conference of Philosophical Societies (CoPS) to a discussion
on how this can be done.
One
great strength of the American philosophical scene has been its development of
multiple specialized societies which enable colleagues within each special field
to work together. The Conference of Philosophical Societies (CoPS) was founded
in order to facilitate cooperation between these many philosophical societies on
issues which require multiple philosophical competencies and approaches.
In view of the new concerns emerging in relation to culture and
civilizations and their cooperation and/or conflict, it is urgent that
representatives of the interested societies to meet in order to discuss (a) what
issues need to be investigated and (b) how the specialized societies might work
together to generate needed insight and understanding.
The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP), which publishes
the Philosophical Calendar, has been asked to help develop these possibilities.
Its Secretary, Prof. Emeritus George F. McLean, one of the founding members of
CoPS who has been working on such issues in the many cultures of the world
(see www.crvp.org), will join me in
coordinating this discussion.
This CoPS session will be held at the Central APA meeting in Chicago on
April 28, 2005 at 9:00am-11:00am. (You will be notified of the location.) As
is usual for CoPS it will be an open meeting, but do let us know who will speak
for your society. In order to make the best use of that limited time please
gather ideas from your colleagues on related themes and ways of working together
and send them to either abbarnojo@dyc.edu
or mclean@cua.edu. These will be summarized
and circulated in advance so that we can spend as much of the meeting as
possible in discussing how to put your ideas into action.
(1)
Gail M. Presbey, Department of Philosophy of University of Detroit Mercy,
gave a brief historical description of their philosophical organization. The
issues on which they have been focusing, such as peace, justice, nuclear and
military concern, violence, etc. Presbey said that philosophy was far behind the
current issues in this global world. Hence philosophers need to provide good
ideas and meaningful goals for actions, notify problems and clarify ideas, and
raise questions such as what is real democracy and so on. Philosophers should
speculate together and make agendas for the problems we face today. Their
organization has published newsletters, books and organized conferences, etc.
(2)
Kate Winninger, Department of Philosophy, University of Maine, representing SWIP,
introduced briefly about their society and spoke on the role of women in
society, especially in public arena. Gender has been a big issue not only for
the ordinary life, but also for professional fields, especially in academics and
scholarships. She that suggested philosophers should think together,
professionalize themselves, and promote their academic rights and freedom.
Today’s world is multi-layered . Philosophers need to know of the importance
of the women issue. Though the issue used to be marginalized, women have been
playing significant roles in all dimensions of human life. Solidarity, democracy
and equality are the principles to help us cope with challenges and obstacles in
today’s world.
(3)
Christan Perring, Department of Philosophy, Dowling College, and representing
the AACP, spoke about the relationship between psychology and philosophy and how
the two can work together to help people solve problems, physically and
mentally. He briefly introduced the organization which started 15 years ago and
has been working on such different issues as morality, emotion, evil, gender,
technology and science, body and soul, etc. It has been engaging other
professional organizations in order to find a way to talk and communicate with
other peoples. A present issue is how philosophy and psychology can work
together in dealing with the problems we all face.
(4)
Vincent Shen, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, representing the
International Society of Chinese Philosophy,introduced briefly the history of
International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP), established in 1975. It
organizes annual international meetings around the world and publishes a
philosophical journal. Shen raised such issues as contributions of Chinese
philosophy in exploring spiritual resources for human development, harmony with
nature, civilizations of body and soul, problems of science and technology,
ethical reflection, humanization of technology, unfolding the true nature of the
self in order to bring ultimate harmony, historical awareness of gender and
religious issues, going beyond simply the golden rule and self-enclosure to
enrich each other, how to understand the true meaning of religion as
transcendence, how to handle nihilism, how to promote religious dialogue, the
common good, what Confucian insight can contribute to the above issues. Shen
proposed to diversify philosophy, not by one philosophical system dominating
others. Philosophers should work together to tackle all the issues.
(5)
Chung-ying
Cheng, Department of Philosophy,
University of Hawaii
at Manoa, founder of the International Society for Chinese Philosophy, suggested
the followings ideas: how to use philosophy practically as well as
speculatively, how to relate and understand different religious groups; how each
particular religion remains faithful to its own belief, how to understand
loyalty, how to read and interpret texts, as fixed or changeably; interpreters
should interact; how to emphasize the family value, what is the role of
interpreters in society, etc.
(6)
Josephy Betz, Department of Philosophy, Villanova University, representing The
Society for Advancement of American Philosophy, radically criticized the policy
of current U.S. government on the Iraq war and other issues. He suggested that
philosophers should take their advisory role in order to help the government
lead a more healthy country and the people understand better the social and
political situation.
(7)
George F. McLean, General Secretary, The Council for Research in Values and
Philosophy (RVP), proposed to look at the frame work from two dimensions:
historically and perspectively. The strength of the American philosophical
community lies in its unity through the APA and its diversity: there are 140
specialized philosophical societies in the U.S., each with its own special
competency. The question now for these global times is: how to harvest these
specializations. All the societies are needed; how can they work together. This
was the founding purpose of CoPS – The Conference of Philosophical Societies.
In
modern more rational times the pattern of philosophy was top-down. But the
awareness of subjectivity and creativity as well as present global interaction
makes it possible and necessary to appreciate the significance of all peoples
and cultures. It is necessary to draw upon the philosophies of the many cultures
and civilizations, and work also from bottom-up, for diverse cultures generate
diverse philosophies so that “continental philosophy” is no longer European
only, but all the continents: Asian and African, American, North and South, etc.
These many cultures are based on human dignity which allows to relate different
peoples in a coherent and comprehensive way.
Member
societies of CoPS are able to address this new phenomenon not only in terms of
the multiplicity of cultures but also to examine this in terms of ethics and
philosophy of the human person, metaphysics and philosophy of culture and
religion. They can work together to identify important issues and join others to
form research teams in order to make contributions to think over those
challenges. The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP) is willing
to take up the task of publication and distribution of the research results.
After
the main speakers spoke there were in-depth discussions among the participants
to clarify certain issues. Abbarno
invited each person to identity a topic in need of investigation, write a
description, and list the philosophical competencies needed for a a research
team. This should be sent to him by February 24, 2006 so that the relevant
societies could be invite to identify a member with the needed competency.
Further discussion will take place during Central Division meeting in Chicago,
April, 2006.
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