Today Is World Philosophy Day: What Are Your Plans? (updated)
Happy World Philosophy Day, everyone! The day was created in 2002 by the UN to celebrate philosophy. It is celebrated on the third Thursday of November.
Marking World Philosophy Day, the head of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) has stressed that sustainability calls for new ways of thinking about ourselves and the planet and as such, “philosophy and all the humanities will be essential.”
“The conviction that philosophy can make an essential contribution to human well-being, to addressing complexity, to advancing peace stands at the heart of World Philosophy Day,” UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova, said in her message for this year’s celebration.
Ms. Bokova pointed out that UNESCO puts philosophy forward as a force for individual and collective emancipation. “For to think, while reflecting on what it is to think, is to philosophize, and all of us do it constantly, driven by the truest motor of all human ingenuity – wonder.”
More here. The UN also has a page up with links to various events and documents related to the day here.
If you or your school have any special events planned, let’s hear about them.
UPDATE: Several sources, including a commenter below, inform me that is also the World Toilet Day. The good folks at Wonder Ponder have brought these days of celebration together here. Worth going for the gif alone. And the Irish Times brings International Men’s Day (also today) into the mix here.
The philosophy club on my campus doesn’t have a big presence, partly because this campus doesn’t offer a bachelors degree in philosophy. World Philosophy Day provides a reason for the club to go out and engage the student body. Today our club will set up a booth in our universities student union building and pass out flyers for our club and offer students a seat to reflect on some important philosophical ideas!
Living the high life as a member of contemporary academia, aka: one interminable meeting after the other….
It is also World Toilet Day. Coincidence? I think not.
So if someone says “my head is spinning” from the festivities I’ll need to ask for further clarification.
A toilet commode can sometimes be the best place to do philosophy! It resembles the armchair but functions as a grave for secretions and bad ideas!
I’m going to obsessively refresh the last post looking for typos and evidence of idiocy in my own writing. I can think of no finer way to honor World Philosophy Day.
Did not realize today would be so appropriate for this, but I am spending the afternoon with a local gifted and talented classroom of 4-6 graders who have decided to study some philosophy.
I “think” i “should” …
1. Complete the MOOC i am in ‘On Strategy : What Managers Can Learn from Philosophy’ within time limit & without expectation
2. Complete reading all Samples under “Philosophy” collection in my Kindle and decide buying the “right” ones
3. Set up a philosophy club for my colleagues
4. Design a philosophy course for the elementary & secondary students in my school
5. Stop philosophizing on who is more “philosophical”: my-self or my fiancee
On a more serious note, I attended the speech by Dr. Daniela Ringkamp, organized by the local Volkshochschule (Adult Educational Center) in Paderborn, on the issue of human rights. It was well-attended (ca. 100 people, including two tenth grades who made for an intensive discussion afterwards).
Look here: http://kw1.uni-paderborn.de/institute-einrichtungen/institut-fuer-humanwissenschaften/philosophie/kolloquium-zur-philosophie/