|
"Humanity, Spiritual Values and
Social Progress"
November 18-20, 1999
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
For detailed program, schedule, contact and visa
information, click HERE.
THEME
Since the fabled days of
the silk route Central Asia has always been considered the cross
roads of the world -- the delicate balance wheel between East and
West. Great civilizations have been challenged there to play that
role: Zoroastrian, Christian, Islamic, Marxist. Now the new states
in the region are faced with taking up that role in a context
suddenly become global.
This is a daunting challenge: it is
necessary to avoid losing the civilizing heritage from all of the
above civilizations, yet to establish a clear and firm identity
which distinguishes these nations from Russia to the North; to
revive the Islamic roots of their identity, yet without falling
into, or falling prey to, a fundamentalism which would impede
progress; to develop their economic base, yet not at the cost of a
new servitude; and to take their place politically in the world, yet
to retain and promote their proper independence.
While moving from a centralized to a more
open economy, the nations of Central Asia are engaged not only in
balancing all the great forces of the world, but in integrating them
into a new and viable whole. In this sense, here the future of
civilization is in play.
Truly humane progress will be possible only
to the degree that these peoples are able to find ways of inspiring
their disparate elements with spiritual values in a way that
promotes both the dignity of the human person and the social
cohesion and cooperation of its peoples. This challenge of our times
finds its focus in Central Asia.
A set of research teams have been working
in the area's Academies of Science, Institutes of Strategic Studies
and national universities on different aspects of this issue. A
number of volumes have been drafted and a first conference to
discuss "The Development of Civil Society in Central Asia"
and for mutual critique of the work of the teams was held in
December, 1998 in Almaty.
On Nov. 18-20, 1999 the second conference
in this annual series will be held in Tashkent focused on the
general theme "Humanity, Spiritual Values and Social
Progress," and providing for mutual critique of the draft
volumes in process. It is intended to relate to the search for
values and to overcoming conflict in the actual world, to engage all
currents of thought, and to find the complementarity of Eastern and
Western thought.
All of this puts special requirements on
the November conference for the overall situation in philosophy is
now dramatically different. Before, there was in place an ideology
already preformed which one needed only to diffuse and reaffirm in a
top-down direction. Now, philosophy is in a post-ideological age
with new countries and new identities to be built. This requires
deep and extended exploration and interchange between philosophers
in a bottom-up or inductive process. For this it is necessary to
have extended time, to provide a physical situation for face to face
interchange in a round or rectangular table format, and carefully to
schedule the progressive introduction and discussion of the series
of issues involved. This will require close cooperation in a highly
integrated scientific program, schedule and logistics.
NB. Participants in the November conference are asked to send their papers to Prof.
Tom Bridges (bridges@civsoc.com) for posting on these pages.
|
|
