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| Monday, 01 December 2003 |
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Victor Alahakoon, Peradeniya Special Correspondent "International Philosophy Day" was commemorated by conducting a symposium on philosophy and psychology at the Department of Philosophy and Psychology, University of Peradeniya recently. Guests including Governor of the Central Province, Monty Gopallawa, Mahinda Abeywardena, Secretary General, Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO and many others graced the occasion. Professor Gunapala Dharmasiri, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Psychology, University of Peradeniya said that it is a pleasure to be a part of this global event which is celebrated internationally. He said that it is a historic happening because it is happening for the first time in human history as a global link. He said UNESCO which facilitates the event, emphasises the significance and the relevance of philosophy to the contemporary world context and quoted UNESCO by saying, "You don't learn philosophy, you learn to philosophise." UNESCO invites the public to set aside a whole day for doing just that on November 21st (International Philosophy Day) along with 60 or 20 philosophers from around the world.The aim is to highlight the importance of this discipline especially for young people and show how it can help us think about everyday problems. Philosophy allows people to question the world and develop a critical and independent spirit. It helps us to understand each other by providing conceptual tools and encouraging, listening, thought and exchanges of views. The key is not so much agreeing as dialoguing which makes it a way to fight intolerance, xenophobia, racism and other kinds of hatred. He said that almost all the social problems highlighted by UNESCO have become endemic in our society particularly in Sri Lanka that it is relevant to give some consideration to their views. We live in an age of chaos and complexity. That is why we have to start looking for some anchor. In doing so philosophy can help or it is the only thing that can help us. He said confucious faced a social situation that is exactly similar to ours. He found a philosophical anchor and the interesting thing is that it is without any religion at all. He said that when we talk of philosophy we think that it is one kind of thing. But there is a very significant difference between Eastern Philosophy and Western philosophy. Western philosophy thinks that it is through thinking that we have to find solutions, while Eastern Philosophy says that it should be done not through thinking but through "seeing" which is opposed to thinking. However thinking is necessary to get to the seeing stage, but thinking has to be superseded by seeing. The western concept of philosophy means love for knowledge while in the east he said the word for philosophy is Darshan or "seeing". They maintain that thinking confuses vision or "seeing". This is an interesting difference we must pay attention to. Anyway either through thinking or seeing we have to find some anchors as resting places because chaos leads to anarchy. However we might not after all be able to find any solution. Even then the question and the search in themselves are interesting enough, he said. That he said is the pleasure of philosophy. Mahinda Abeywardena, Secretary General, Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO said that UNESCO deals with a worldwide membership of 194 countries and each has a National Commission and Sri Lanka being one such member has been elected to the executive board recently, a unique event in this part of the world. He said peace begins in the minds of men and the aim is to promote philosophy to face the challenges in the country. Professor W. M. Sirisena, Dean of Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya making an indepth study of the Nature of Philosophy said that philosophy is useful to train people to think well and correctly and that it should be promoted as a subject in the universities. The others who addressed the audience were Prof. R. D. Gunaratne on Philosophy and Contemporary Scientific Thinking, Mrs. Malika Rajaratnam, on Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Understanding. Prof. A. D.P. Kalansooriya on the Nature of Analytical Philosophy, Prof. K. Vidanagamage on Pre-Socratic Philosophy, Dr. D. Mallikarachchi on Philosophy in Daily Life, Dr. M. S. K. Anes on Philosophy, Ethics and Peace, Prof. Arjuna de Soysa on Philosophy East-West and the vote of thanks was proposed by Charitha Herath, the coordinator of the programme. |
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