Organized by Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, USA, Romanian Academy, Iasi Branch, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania.

Sponsored by: Institute for the Study of Values and Spirituality (ISVS)

Conference organizer: Professor Dan Chițoiu (ISVS&UAIC)

The conference participants came from United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Romania. As specified in the conference announcement, „Philosophy can be the result of speculative or theoretical thinking, but it also can have roots in cultural traditions. A certain cultural tradition is a very complex milieu constituted by the symbolic codes motivating collective and individual conduct, by means of expressing reality, by the ways of preserving past heritage and by specific spiritual practices. This kind of philosophizing originates in concrete reasons and seeks to provide practical solutions of life. More than that, a major aim of such philosophy is to deliver a comprehensive vision of reality able to address the needs brought by a certain historical time. At times, this kind of philosophy has not been recognized due to an inadequate hermeneutics which offered to narrow a description of what can be designated as philosophy”.