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Philosophy Emerging from Culture
Java, Indonesia 9-21 July, 2007
As we enter into a global age there is an emerging awareness that philosophy is in need of new dimensions. It is now generally recognized that professional philosophy has been overly Eurocentric and hence too dominated by the skeptical mode of the early Enlightenment, overly individualist and too scientist.
Global times now endow -- and challenge -- philosophy with a broad diversity of cultures and civilizations. At the same time the progressive deepening of human concerns reaches beyond what is clear and distinct to what is of meaning and value, and beyond what is universal and necessary to free human creativity. This directs attention to persons and communities which over time and space cumulatively generate their cultural traditions. These two dimensions: one of global breadth and the other of the depth of the human spirit, now combine to open new sources for philosophy as the work of the human spirit.
As a result, the next World Congress of Philosophy (Seoul, August 2008) will have as its theme: “Rethinking Philosophy Today” in order to enable the vision of philosophy to be more inclusive and profound. In this light 2007 will be the special opportunity of the many world cultures and civilizations to formulate from their own heritages their philosophical insights and contributions. The goal will be to enrich philosophical awareness so that its horizons can be broad enough for all peoples to be truly at home therein.
To this end a series of conferences is foreseen in Indonesia in July of 2007. They will discuss the emergence of philosophy from culture both in general and the specific contributions of the cultures of Java. As but one instance, Javanese culture has a distinctive notion called Memayu Hayuning Bawono. This notion has the phenomenological dimension that human consciousness is not a solipsistic entity but a disclosure. According to this cultural conception, human consciousness is not trapped within a microcosm (bawono cilik), but reaches toward the macrocosm (bawono gede). This brings new meaning to self consciousness and its ethical implication for self-consciousness is not a substance but a relationship. This suggest a radical shift in our ethical paradigm. It is not only by a categorical imperative that we develop ourselves through fulfilling certain universal maxims, but we are continuously developing an ethic of cosmic solidarity. We need to gather and formulate the many such philosophical insights from our culture.
Each conference will be two days in length, with a number of philosophers and related professors and graduate students in order to favor direct, penetrating and creative interchange. The papers should be substantive with full academic notations (there is no upper page limit) and will be published in English in time for the World Congress of Philosophy.
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