ISUD News Bulletin

• Authors: Brown Charles
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The University of Craiova in Craiova, Romania hosted the 10th World Con-gress of the International Society for Universal Dialogue (ISUD) from July 4—9, 2014. The Congress was dedicated to the theme of “The Human Being: Its Nature and Functions.” More than 83 scholars from 19 countries participated in four days of dialogue and discussion. During the opening session of the Congress, Janusz Kuczyński, Honorary President and founder of the society, sent his warm greetings and invited the ISUD to host its next World Congress in Warsaw, Poland. Professor Kuczyński informed the participants that the University of Warsaw and the Polish Acade-my of the Sciences wished to help sponsor the 2016 Congress. Professor Kuczyński’s warm greetings and invitations were appreciated by all and set the tone for collegial and intellectually productive meeting. The opening day featured Keynote Addresses by distinguished professors Basarab Nicolescu and Georgia Zanthaki. Basarab Nicolescu is Professor and honorary theoretical physicist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scien-tifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies, Uni-versité Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, Member of the Romanian Acade-my. Georgia Zanthaki is Professor and Head of the Department of Philology, University of Peloponnese, Greece. Professor Nicolescu’s address entitled “How Can We Enter into Dialogue? Transdisciplinary Methodology of the Dialogue between People, Cultures, and Spiritualties” discussed the possibilities of inter-cultural dialogue from a trans-disciplinary perspective and Professor Zanthaki’s paper entitled “Moral and Social Values in the Ancient Greek Tragedy” discussed the philosophical signif-icance of moral values in Greek Tragedy. The first evening concluded with a banquet featuring Romanian cuisine. Old and new friends joined in celebrating the year of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the society. Congress participants enjoyed a variety of cultural events including: — the play Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco staged at the National Theatre of Craiova, — the play A Letter … by Ion Luca Caragiale performed by the Theatre De-partment of the University of Craiova, — an open air concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra “Oltenia” of Craiova, — a daytrip to the native house and sculptures of Constantin Brancusi, the Tismana Monestery, and the Polovragi Cave — a reading of scenes featuring philosophical dialogues from Dr. Thomas Robinson’s play “Reaching for Democracy” by participants of the Congress. Participants celebrated a successful congress with a banquet featuring Ro-manian folk dancing and music by the renowned Zorina Balan. All enjoyed a spirited evening of song and dance as participants were invited to join the Ro-manian folk dancers. The Congress closed with its General Assembly and business meeting in which Professor Kuczyński’s invitation to host the 2016 World Congress in Warsaw was unanimously accepted. Participants elected Chris Vasillopoulos (USA) and Panos Eliopoulos (Greece) to second terms as ISUD President and ISUD Vice President while electing Charles Brown (USA) as ISUD Treasurer and Emily Tajsina (Russia) as Secretary. The new ISUD Board of Governors was also elected. The new Board now consists of Jean Campbell (USA), Hope Fitz (USA), Raghunath Ghosh (India), Columbus Ogbujah (Nigeria), Athena Salappa (Greece), Adriana Neacsu (Romania), Ashok Malhotra (India-USA), Amita Valmiki (India), Keqian Xu (China), Manjulika Ghosh (India). In his post-congress message to those who participated in the congress, ISUD President Chris Vasillopulos thanked the congress organizers and partici-pants for the generosity of their time and talents and for their spirited participa-tion in the panel discussions. President Vassillopulos writes that for many par-ticipants the extraordinary dinner/dance held near the end of the Congress was “the highlight of our visit to Craiova … The feeling that permeated the room, a feeling that transcended cultures, continents, academic disciplines and personal experiences, gave undeniable expression to what ISUD stands for: our common humanity and our common virtue.”

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk; Fundacja Filozofia Na Rzecz Dialogu
• Journal: Dialogue and Universalism
• Year: 2014
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 191-192

Contributors

author

Brown Charles

• Emporia State University