Invitation to an International Conference
Philosophy Emerging from
Culture:
Islamic Thought and Indonesian Culture
A set of conferences across Java,
Indonesia
(Jakarta, Bandung,
Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Malang)
January 4-16, 2009
Report
Background
Global times now endow -- and challenge – us 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 the free human
creativity of diverse peoples. This directs attention to the
way persons and communities, working cumulatively over time
and space have generated 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 the human spirit.
There is a need to
“rethink philosophy” in order to enable the vision of
philosophy to be more inclusive and profound. In
this light, there is an opportunity of many world cultures
and civilizations to formulate 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.
In relation to those
efforts, The International Society for Islamic philosophy
(ISIP) has been founded in conjunction with the Council for
Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP), which is a
Washington-based non-profit research center. This
constitutes a special opportunity for the many parts of the
Islamic world, each with their cultures and civilization, to
formulate their own heritages and contributions? Its goal is
to enable Islam can be at home in the modern world, to
enrich and to be enriched in order for its peoples to be
truly at home in the present age.
A series of
conferences in Indonesia will
discuss the emergence of philosophy from culture both in
general and the specific contribution of the islands of Indonesia such
as Java and Bali as well as the philosophy of Pancasila that
has been adopted by the founding fathers of Indonesia
In reference to that purpose, this
coming conference (4-16 January 2009) at several leading
universities in five cities (Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta,
Surabaya, Malang) in Indonesia, a list of leading
philosophers and scholars will discuss the emergence of
philosophy from culture, related to Islamic thought, 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 sees human consciousness not as a solipsistic entity
but as 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 inasmuch as self-consciousness is not a
substance but a relationship. Further it suggests a radical
shift in our ethical paradigm: we develop ourselves not only
through fulfilling certain universal maxims, but are
continuously developing an ethic of cosmic solidarity. We
need to gather and formulate many such insights from the
culture of Java.
Our hope would be to
gather and formulate many such insights from the culture of
Java. If were possible to explore as well a hermeneutic of
how such elements can help to live the Islamic vision, it
could be an important contribution to all Moslems and
indeed to all philosophers. Moreover, in this it is a
central hope that the sense of harmony in our Southeast
Asian temperament which has pervaded our Islamic
self-understanding might be able to contribute to Islam
across the world and thereby to enrich its contribution to
building world peace and cooperation among peoples.
Each conference will be arranged in depth (a
roundtable discussion) a full day in length, with a team of
visiting scholars joining local scholars and graduate
students in order to favor direct, penetrating and creative
interchange. The resulting papers will be substantive and
will be published and distributed both on its web in full
text and in print to 350 university libraries across the
world.
This series of conference is
organized by The
Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (CRVP) in
collaboration with The
Islamic College for Advanced Students (ICAS) Jakarta.
Objectives
The overall purpose of these series of conferences is
to review papers presented by the 5 visiting scholars and 18
local scholars, identify local heritages on philosophy and
cultural values and prepare summaries and recommendations.
Participants (from each province/university) will discuss
specific theme/topic within the framework of philosophy
emerging from culture with support of conference organizers.
Through this
conference, philosophical insights from local culture will
be gathered and formulated, particularly in the analysis of
living tradition in relation to contributions to human
values and creativity. The
conference will also be a venue for representatives of local
culture to share their view on local heritages.
To explore how Islam can
be at home in the modern world. The International Society
for Islamic philosophy (ISIP) has been founded in
conjunction with the Council for Research in Values and
Philosophy (RVP). To
enable Islam to enrich and to be enriched in order for its
peoples to be truly at home in the present age.
Specifically, the following outputs are expected at
the end of the conference:
-
ollection of papers
presented by 5 visiting and 18 local scholars within
the range of philosophy emerging from culture as
well as publication of its edited ones.
-
General summary and
recommendations for formulating philosophical
insights from local culture
-
Cultural
representative-specific recommendations by chosen
topics
-
Comments from all
participants of each Round-table discussion
-
Feedback from paper
presenters.
Format
The conference, in
the form of Round-table discussion, is conducted in series
in ten hosted universities, with a day for each. A number of
philosophers and related professors and graduate students
are invited in order to favor direct, penetrating and
creative interchange.
The medium for
communication for the series of conferences will be English
with national language used as desired in sessions of the
hosted universities.
Conference Organizer
The Islamic College for
Advanced Studies, Jakarta and The
Council for Research in Values and Philosophy are
primarily responsible for organizing this conference, in
close collaboration with the
University of Indonesia
Islamic State University Syarif
Hidayatullah,
Islamic College for
Advanced Studies
Driyarkara School of
Philosophy
Islamic State University Sunan
Gunung Jati,
Gajah Mada University (Center
for Religion and Cross-cultural Studies),
Islamic State University Sunan
Kalijaga Yogyakarta,
Islamic State University Sunan
Ampel,
University of Muhammadiyah
Malang and
Paper Presenters
The proposed topics are:
q Islamic State University Syarif
Hidayatullah
Public seminar on “ Wisdom
(hikmah) and Rationality in Islamic Thought”
q University of Indonesia: Contemporary
Philosophy, Islamic Thought and Local Wisdom in
Multicultural Society: An Indonesian Case
q Islamic
College for Advanced Studies: Connecting
Islamic Philosophy and Modern Challenges in a Post-Modernist
Age
q Driyarkara School of
Philosophy: Religious
Ethics, Java Ethics, and Global Ethics
q Islamic State University Sunan
Gunung Jati: Towards
Interfaith Dialogue in a Cultural Framework
q CRCS- Gajah Mada University: Islamic
Thought and Javanese Culture
q Islamic State University Sunan
Kalijaga Yogyakarta: Islamic
Mysticism and Javanese Culture
q Islamic State University Sunan
Ampel and Airlangga University: Islamic
Thought in Developing Cultural Values: Rural and Urban
Communities
q University of Muhammadiyah
Malang: Cultivation
of Education in Islamic Perspective and Cultural Pesisir
Contact
Husain Heriyanto
The Islamic College for Advanced Students (ICAS)
Jakarta,
Indonesia
husain_heri@yahoo.com
