The 14th edition of the congress is being offered for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere
From Jul 24-28, several international speakers from German, Spanish, French, Greek, Dutch, Israeli, Italian and Mexican universities will be at PUCRS for the 14th World Congress of the International Society for Medieval Philosophy Studies. This is the first time the event is being offered in the Southern Hemisphere. The program includes 10 lectures and more than 200 papers presented by members of the International Society for Medieval Philosophy Studies (SIEPM). The Congress occurs every five years and the Society has been around since 1958.
Photo: Camila Cunha
The opening ceremony featured the President of PUCRS, Br. Evilázio Teixeira; the Dean of the School of Hmanities of PUCRS, Draiton Gonzaga de Souza; Philosophy professor of PUCRS and member of SIEPM Roberto Hofmeister Pitch; Secretary of Culture of Porto Alegre, Luciano Alabarse; the president of SIEPM, Loris Sturlese; the Vice President of UFRGS, Jane Fraga Tutikian; and a representative from Unisinos, Alfredo Santiago Culleton. The joint efforts made by the graduate programs in Philosophy of the three local universities, which are nationally and internationally recognized for their tradition in the area, were key to bringing the event to Porto Alegre. “The congress will be an encouragement to medieval philosophy studies in our country. Human beings and their relations in the current cultural scenario appear as a major challenge for the construction of a humanized humanity”, claims Br. Evilázio.
In Mr Alabarse’s view, in times of conflict and intolerance, it is very important to promote events of this nature, which make the past a lot clearer. “Hopefully we will be able to understand it, and this will make the future brighter as we learn more, expand our ideas, grow in tolerance and solidarity”, comments he. “We’re very happy that this event is being offered for the first time in Latin America, more specifically in Brazil; the event was preceded by a regional colloquium of the Society in 2010, with the support from PUCRS, and revealed the great scientific and human potential that is characteristic of this continent”, said Sturlese.
Loris Sturlese
Photo: Camila Cunha
This edition’s main theme is Homo – Natura – Mundus: The Human Being and Their Relations. The idea is to promote studies in medieval philosophy. SIEPM is chiefly devoted to Latin, Jewish, Islamic and Byzantine philosophy. All of these lines of research are studied in research centers spread all over the world, mostly in North America, Europe and South America, which are dedicated to working with manuscripts, text editing and the study of major texts and scholars in the area.
In Mr Pitch’s views, PUCRS is one of the most important centers for the development of this area of research in Latin America. According to him, the Graduate Program in Philosophy of the university has been producing, for more than two decades, masters and doctors in this area. “SIEPM is the largest and most important research society in medieval philosophy all over the world. It will be represented by researchers from more than 30 countries. It is the largest philosophy event PUCRS has ever hosted”, ascertains he.
– Andreas Speer, Universität zu Köln (Germany)
– Fiorella Retucci, Università del Salento (Italy)
– Jacob Schmutz, Université Paris–Sorbonne (France)
– Jörg Tellkamp, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Iztapalapa (Mexico)
– Katerina Ierodiakonou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece)
– Olga Weijers, Huygens Institute / The Hague (The Netherlands), Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes, CNRS (France)
– Rafael Ramón Guerrero, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
– Rodrigo Guerizoli, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
– Silvia Donati, Albertus-Magnus-Institut (Germany)
– Steve Harvey, Bar-Ilan University (Israel)
