Dialogue and Universalism

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More information about the ISUD is available on the official website of the society: worldialogue.org

 

ISUD is a society of scholars, mostly philosophers, from many parts of the world, devoted to promoting international dialogue and the discussion of fundamental questions of universal concern, which affect all humanity, such as world peace, human rights, dialogical interrelations of diverse cultures, and preservation of the world ecology.

Enduring questions of interest include:

Is there a universal knowledge? If so, how may it be conceived?
Are there universal values?
How may one understand the variation and conflict of cultures and religions and politics?
How may one understand cultural diversity and universality?
What is the relationship between the individual basic liberties and the collective rights of culture groups?
What is intercultural communication?
Can dialogue among different worldviews lead to basic agreement?
What are ethical principles of dialogue?
What does ethics have to do with international affairs?
How best to work toward a culture of peace?
What role does philosophical thinking have to play in moving toward a more rational and more humane future?

 „The School of Athens”, 1510 By Raphael (1483 – 1520), Vatican Museums and Galleries, Vatican City

ISUD CONSTITUTION

We the members of the International Society for Universal Dialogue, in order to investigate and articulate the basic principles of universality systematically, rationally, and comprehensively—with an effort to promote a world understanding of these principles, striving to help generate universal world consciousness towards the gradual emergence of a decent world order, and aspiring to actualize the highest and richest human values in art, science, politics, education, and social life—do agree to declare the following statement as the constitution of the International Society for Universal Dialogue.

Article I

The official name of the society shall be “The International Society for Universal Dialogue” to be incorporated in the state of Maine, USA.

Article II

Scholars, especially philosophers, from all the countries of the world without exception, are entitled to membership in the Society without any discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, nationality, religion, sexual preference, or social class. The democratic way of thinking and acting shall be the guiding principle of all decisions which determine the plans and projects of the Society.

Article III

The ISUD acknowledges that it was the idea of Universalism that gathered the Society together in Warsaw in November, 1989; and further acknowledges and honors its close relationship with the publication Dialogue and Universalism which provides a forum in which all members of ISUD have the opportunity to communicate and exchange their views.

Article IV

l. The main purpose of the Society is to promote, in theory and in practice, the ideals of universality as the most effective means for the gradual realization of a decent, peaceful, and just world order. To achieve this purpose, the members of ISUD shall try, by means of scholarly work, regional and international conferences, and personal and collective work to explore and share important areas of human knowledge and experience.

2. To continue, the purpose of the Society is to evoke and invigorate a global consciousness; that is, the existential awareness that all the peoples of the world belong to one species, the human species, and, accordingly, have the same fundamental stock of needs, aspirations, and capacities. Further to this is to recognize that these needs, aspirations, and capacities cannot be adequately realized under conditions of selfish competition, violence, and exploitation but under conditions of peace, cooperation, and freedom. And further to this, to acknowledge responsibility to other species and to the preservation and restoration of the health and beauty of all eco-systems on the planet.

Article V

1. The Society shall be administered by a body of governors called The Board of the International Society for Universal Dialogue (ISUD). The members of the Board shall be elected by the members of the Society by a majority vote. Members of the Board shall be no less than ten and no more than 15 and they shall be elected at the meetings that coincide with the periodic world conferences held by the Society, which usually occur every two years. They shall serve one two year term with the opportunity to be re-elected to two additional terms

2. Consonant with the provisions in Section l just above, regional representation in the ISUD Board may be maintained to support the growth of the Society. Pursuant to this aim, the restriction to three consecutive terms may be waived.

3. The members of the Society shall elect the officers of the Board. These officers shall consist of President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The President shall have the executive privilege, and obligation, to administer all the decisions and actions of the Society and to delegate tasks whenever he deems it appropriate. He or she shall, moreover, oversee all the Society’s activities and present a report to it at each general meeting. He or she, as well as every member of the Society, is entitled to make any recommendation that may serve the interest of universality.

4. The president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer shall be ex officio members of the Board. They shall serve for one term with the opportunity to be re-elected for two additional terms.

5. The President of the Society is the executive officer of all the organs, or chapters, of the Society; he or she is also ex officio member of all the committees of the Society. He or she shall have the authority to delegate tasks which are essential to the work and progress of the Society.

6. The Board, under the guidance of the President, shall be responsible for arranging the agenda of the international meetings of the Society and shall do all it can to promote the purposes of the Society and keep its momentum alive and dynamic. It shall also advise the President on all matters relating to the operation and growth of the Society.

7. The Board shall, in consultation with the secretary, authorize cooperative programs or activities with other organizations.

8. The Vice President shall do his or her best to further the immediate and long term objectives of the Society in their regions and shall stay in touch with the President concerning all matters which affect the cause of universality.

9. The Secretary shall assume responsibility for relaying all the news which matter to the Society in their regions and shall act as a mediator between the Board on the one hand and all the members of the Society on the other.

10. The Treasurer shall keep an accurate record of all the financial transactions of the Society, and shall present a report of all the credits and debits of the account of the Society at each international meeting. He or she shall, moreover, make a special effort to contact Foundations and Organizations that are sympathetic with the goals of universality in order to support and lend financial assistance to the regional and international meetings.

11. When a vacancy occurs in the list of officers on the Executive Committee, the President can temporarily, and with the advice of the Board, fill the vacancy; and if the President is, for some reason, unable to fulfill this function, the Board shall have the authority to fill this vacancy and shall do so by majority vote.

12. The Treasurer, in addition to any of the other three officers, shall have the sole right to sign all checks on behalf of the Society and to complete all the transactions of the Society. He or she shall be considered the custodian of the treasury of the International Society for Universal Dialogue.

Article VI

1. The election of all the officers of the Society shall be done by a majority vote.

2. All the officers of the Society shall be nominated by a nominating committee in conjunction with nominees named from the floor of the international meetings of the Society. The election shall, as a matter of course, take place by a show of hands. Secret ballots can be used only if a member of the Society requests it and is agreed by a majority vote.

3. The names of the new members shall be published in the official membership list, or news bulletin, and distributed to all the members.

Article VII

The scholarly activities of the Society shall be administered by a body of governors called The Board of the Library of the International Society for Universal Dialogue. This Board shall supervise, coordinate, and evaluate all the manuscripts which qualify for inclusion in the library of the Society. It shall also seek to expand the research and publication facilities of the library. The library Board shall consist of twelve members and shall be elected by the members of the Society at their international meetings.

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„Since 2004, the ISUD has been one of 103 full members of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP), a nongovernmental organization that unifies various national and international philosophical organizations and that is linked with the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (ICPHS) and with UNESCO. The goals of the ISUD are very much in line with the main objectives of FISP, ICPHS, and UNESCO: namely, to promote philosophical education on a global scale, and to generate a greater awareness of the social and global problems that confront us in order to break through the impasse in which humanity finds itself in the early 21st century.” (Steven V. Hicks, The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2007, Vol. 66, No. 1)

PAST EVENTS

1st International Symposium in Warsaw, Poland, November 1989  (ISU)

2nd International Symposium in Berlin, Germany, August 1990  (ISU)

3rd International Symposium in St. Catherine’s, Canada, August 1991.  (ISU)

4th International Symposium in London, May 1992  (ISU)

1st World Congress in Warsaw, Poland, 1993  (ISU)

2nd World Congress in Orlando, USA, 1995  (ISU)

3rd World Congress in Boston, USA, 1998  (ISU)

4th World Congress in Krakow, Poland, 2001 (ISUD)

Theme: Mythos and Logos: How to Regain the Love of Wisdom. Mythos and Logos: How to Regain the Love of Wisdom

5th World Congress in Olympia, Greece, 2003  (ISUD)

Theme: Religion, Politics and Suffering: Intercultural Dimensions and Challenges for Philosophy

6th World Congress in Helsinki, Finland, 2005  (ISUD)

Theme: Humanity at the Turning Point: Rethinking Nature, Culture and Freedom

7th World Congress in Hiroshima, Japan, 2007  (ISUD)

Theme: Collective Memory, Philosophical Reflection and World Peace

8th World Congress in Beijing, China, 2010  (ISUD)

Theme: Dialogue among Cultures: Peace, Justice and Harmony

9th World Congress in Olympia, Greece 2012 (ISUD)

Theme: Democratic Culture: Historical Reflections and Modern Transformations

ISUD Meeting during XXIII Congress of Philosophy, Athens, 2013

Theme: Dialogue among Cultures as a Philosophical Way of Life 

10th World Congress in Craiova, Romania, 2014

Theme : Human Being. Its Nature and Functions

11th World Congress in Warsaw, Poland, 2016

Theme: Values and Ideals: Theory and Praxis

PUBLICATIONS

Between Global Violence and the Ethics of Peace: Philosophical Perspectives. (AJES – Studies in Economic Reform and Social Justice).  Malden, MA, USA, Oxford, UK: Willey-Blackwell Publishing, 2009.

The essays included in this volume were originally presented at the 2007 Seventh World Congress of the International Society for Universal Dialogue held in Hiroshima, Japan.

(The American Journal of Economics and Sociology; v. 68, Jan. 2009, no. 1. Invited issue. )

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Philosophy after Hiroshima. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010.

Philosophy after Hiroshima offers a philosophical analysis of the issues surrounding war and peace, and their challenges to ethics. It reminds us that the threat posed to civilization by nuclear weapons persists, as does the need for continuing philosophical reflection on the nature of war, the problem of violence, and the need for a workable ethics in the nuclear age.

The essays included in this volume were originally presented at the Seventh World Congress of the International Society for Universal Dialogue (ISUD), entitled After Hiroshima: Collective Memory, Philosophical Reflection and World Peace, hosted in Hiroshima, Japan, in the summer of 2007, and at the XXII World Congress of Philosophy, entitled Rethinking Philosophy Today, in Seoul, South Korea, in the summer of 2008.

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The Challenges of Globalization: Rethinking Nature, Culture, and Freedom

The essays included in this volume were selected from the 2005 Sixth World Congress of the International Society for Universal Dialogue held in Helsinki, Finland. Most were either keynote addresses or prize-winning papers at the Congress, and all are focused on a central theme: the need to rethink our concepts of nature, culture, and freedom in an age of increased globalization.
These essays examine topics ranging from peace, global justice, international law, and human rights to cultural relativism and ecoterrorism. They discuss how a comprehensive ethical action is necessary in order to overcome repressive social, political, and cultural obstacles.

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Humanity at the Turning Point

The publication contains a selection of 39 essays based on papers which were presented at the 6th ISUD World Congress, held in Helsinki in July 2005 and organized jointly by ISUD and the Renvall Institute for Area and Cultural Studies of the University of Helsinki.

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Mythos and Logos: How to Regain the Love of Wisdom

This book contains fifteen essays selected from the Fourth World Congress of the International Society for Universal Dialogue, held in Krakow, Poland, 2001. The essays are seeking to regain the original meaning of philosophy as the love of wisdom. Mythos and Logos are two essential aspects of a quest that began with the ancient Greeks. As concepts foundational to human experience, Mythos and Logos continue to guide the search for truth in the 21st century.




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