Education occupies 200
convening philosophers

UH hosts an East-West meeting of
the minds held every five years

For Russian philosopher Marietta Stepaniants, spending two weeks with 200 of the world's best thinkers gives her a feeling of optimism.

"We hear so much about tensions among the various civilizations," she said as the East-West Philosophers' Conference wrapped up its first week. "Here, people from different backgrounds come together, and in two weeks we learn from each other and learn different opinions and everyone respects these opinions. There is a very rich variety of thought."

Stepaniants and other philosophers are spending two weeks in Honolulu to ponder their countries' education systems and how they are affected by their cultures.

They are discussing such topics as multiculturalism and teaching philosophy, religion and education, education and the environment, music and moral education, and astronomy as inspiration for the world's cultures.

Organizers of the East-West Philosophers' Conference note that education affects human culture in all its different forms.

"If dialogue is the only way of solving the world's problems, if we can't win conflicts with weapons, this is all we have," said Roger Ames, director of the two-week conference and professor of philosophy at the host University of Hawaii. "We have to run the world better. It all goes back to education."

While every parent wants the best education for their child, minorities might wonder if their child is excluded from some opportunities, he said.

"It's about the future of their children and family and their own identity, and that's what's under discussion here," he said.

"We're not just talking professionally to one another," said Eliot Deutsch, chairman of the university's Department of Philosophy and a specialist in both Indian and Western philosophies.

"This conference changes the environment of how people are thinking," said Ames. The conference drew participants from 35 countries this year.

The East-West Philosophers' Conference was first held in 1939 with six participants from three countries. It was held at 10-year intervals through 1959 and then every five years through 1969. After a 20-year hiatus, it was revived in 1989 and has been held every five years since then.

Upon returning to Russia after the 1989 conference, Stepaniants wrote a 22-page report for a Russian philosophical journal.

"This stimulated interest among academics," she said, leading her to organize the first Moscow International Conference on Comparative Philosophy.

The second conference is scheduled for next year, said Stepaniants, professor of philosophy for the Russian Academy of Sciences and chairwoman of Eastern philosophies and political thought at the State University of Humanities in Moscow.

The Honolulu conference has an even wider influence, she said. "Nearly all of us teach, and after the conference we take with us the ideas we learned here and depart this to our colleagues and students," said Stepaniants, who was director of the 1995 conference and co-director in 2000.

Tze-wan Kwan, professor and chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the conference provides a platform for multicultural discussion.

"We hear opinions from different cultures, including indigenous cultures, and this is a great attraction," said Kwan. "I have had contact with native Hawaiians, with one who has Greek heritage and one from Lithuania. This is a unique melting pot of culture.

"I find these exchanges very encouraging and very exciting," he said.

Kwesi Yankah, professor of linguistics at the University of Ghana, said that although he is not a philosopher, he finds the conference a "creative forum for the exchange of ideas from different manifestations of education."

But he said Western education tends to alienate people in Africa and leave them behind.

"Talks on globalization emphasize dialogue between East and West but leave out Africa," said Yankah, who received his doctorate at Indiana University and turned down opportunities in the United States to return to his homeland.

This year's participants include scholars in Islamic cultures from Iran, Afghanistan and India. "We have some very civil but exciting engagements," Deutsch said.