Editorial. Values and Ideals. Theory and Praxis Part II Dialogue on the Issues of the Contemporary World. Philosophical Ideals for a More Decent World

• Authors: Czarnocka Małgorzata
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This is the second of a series of issues of Dialogue and Universalism featur-ing a selection of peer-reviewed materials submitted to the 11th World Con-gress of the International Society for Universal Dialogue,1 held in Warsaw, Poland, July 11–15, 2016. The papers in this issue deal with two problems: dialogue on the issues of the contemporary world, and philosophical ideals for a more decent world, the first two sub-themes of the 11th World Congress theme: VALUES AND IDEALS. THEORY AND PRAXIS. The essays included in this Dialogue and Universalism issue demonstrate philosophy’s extensive commitment to the human world. Philosophy plays here the role of intellectual advisor and guide. In both thematic collections the au-thors investigate problems which are important, or even crucial, for the human world today and/or in the past; frequently they have universal cores or aspects. Almost all the essays not only diagnose the status quo, but also propose ways to build a more decent world. Some papers draw from sociological research, and are seemingly on the border between philosophy and sociology. In fact, howev-er, their characteristic only reveals an essential feature of philosophy: non-isolation. In its considerations, especially its direct involvement in the problems of the world, philosophy adopts findings from other knowledge fields without losing any of its autonomy or identity. There are many ways of changing the world, and, more generally, of coping with it. They all flow from one source—they are founded on thinking. In gen-eral, the human mind, which is the subject of thinking, continually creates and transforms the spiritual, non-material sphere of the human world. By thinking human beings explain the world’s problems, extend and project human reality, and in consequence free or enslave themselves by transforming their conscious-ness. Besides, thinking is the foundation of actions in the material sphere. Thus, thinking plays a dual role in processes which alter the world—it is a basis of both the spiritual as well as the material and social domains of the human world. All civilizations, all human creations, all human past legacy are founded on the achievements of the human mind. Thinking is a crucial human capability, the very fundament of specific human existence, and the main means of human survival. The extensive category of thinking (rarely examined or even referred to in epistemological investigations) includes reasoning, conceptualising, imag-ination, intuition, building mental pictures, etc. In thinking human beings create ideas, values, norms, images of reality, project new socio-cultural and techno-logical structures, systems of beliefs, trends in art, deal with their emotions, etc. Philosophy with its amazingly sophisticated ways of thinking has tremen-dous power to cope with the world and to change it. Philosophy is free from technical and practical interests, and is constituted upon the pursuit of remov-ing—from a highly distanced and neutral perspective—falsehood, prejudice, mental, cultural, religious and social slavery. So it gives hope for the emancipa-tion of human beings in Jürgen Habermas’s sense, as well as for an alteration of the world, first spiritual, and then material. It frequently focuses on problems which are not noticed outside it. Philosophers do not only contemplate the world; from its beginnings, philos-ophy has participated in building it over and over again by proposing visions and projects—both comprehensive and concentrated on particular fields or problems. Karl Marx’s famous 11th theses on Feuerbach: “Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it”2 claims, in fact, that philosophy only contemplates the world, is a passive specta-tor. This omits the vast creative activity of the philosophical mind, and its im-pact on the human world. The influence is indirect, multiphased, sometimes implicit, difficult to identify for non-philosophers. Unfortunately, it is too weak today, because philosophy is being marginalized by political authorities in many countries, as well as by the anti-intellectual climate of the recent era. Some in-tellectuals and philosophers have even announced the death of philosophy. Phi-losophy, however, has so much to offer to the present and future human world. I hope the content of this Dialogue and Universalism issue confirms this belief.

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk; Fundacja Filozofia Na Rzecz Dialogu
• Journal: Dialogue and Universalism
• Year: 2017
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 5-6

Contributors

author

Czarnocka Małgorzata

• Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Nowy Świat 72, 00–330 Warszawa, Poland