Theme

The issues of violence and war, injustice and hatred have always been major challenges to human beings. The philosophical work of reflection and the political praxis have always been inseparable from the attempt to understand and to solve issues related to the human condition of being-with and of being-for others. The issues at stake are intimately related to the human self-understanding and demand from each and every generation, from each and every culture, from each major religion or system of values both a deepening in understanding as well as the willingness to pragmatically transform the «status quo» and promote a significant plus both in terms of intelligibility as well as of action. All major socio-political, ethical and religious visions of humanity are based in some attempt to answer the questions that historical or pragmatic deficits bring to the horizon of human thought.

All religions and cultures, but most specifically philosophy and politics are called to answer the question about the best way to live, to foster communality and find ways to overcome negativity and social evils. Individuals and societies have always been attempting to articulate the ultimate goal of human thinking and acting in the world in terms of a methodic search for justice and goodness, for reconciliation and peace.

Therefore, the 2015 edition of the RVP annual seminar will treat these issues in terms of both an intercultural as well as interdisciplinary approach. Besides giving attention to some elements of philosophy of religion and culture it will deal with issues pertaining to the inter-relational dimension of human life, to the structural moment of politics and economics, to the philosophical understanding of both State and Society, and, finally, to the religious understanding of peace as gift and, at the same time, as a matter of personal engagement and responsibility. The goal, therefore, is to deepen human self-understanding while at the same time promoting clarification and transparency in relation to the institutional dimension of the human search for peace and reconciliation. Particular attention shall be given to the institutionalization of international law as well as to the meaning of realities such as the United Nations and other trans-national institutions operative in the world of today.