The Speech of the Head of The World Philosophy Day Congress
Dr. Gholamali Haddad Adel

In the name of God
In the Name of God the Most High

Honorable Scholars, Respected Philosophers, Dear Students and Researchers

At the onset of International Congress of the World Philosophy Day, I deem It my duty to express my gratitude to all of you for accepting our invitation to participate in this congress. In particular, I would like to welcome and thank those dear participants who have taken upon themselves the labor of traveling across long distances to come to the Islamic Republic of Iran to participate in this congress. I wish them a pleasant stay and good memories in Iran. I would also like to welcome the honorable university professors. the scholars and researchers of the Qom Seminary, the Seminary and university students and the researchers and advocates of philosophy. My thanks are also due to several high-ranking officials, especially the honorable minister of Science and the minister of Islamic Culture and Guidance who are present at this congress. My thanks are particularly due to his Excellency, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I am also thankful to the High Forum of Islamic Philosophy in Qom for sparing no efforts to assist the organization of this congress. I would also like to express my gratitude to Ayatollahs Javadi Amoli, Sobhani and Mesbah who, by sending articles and messages and by extending their cooperation, have supported the Congress

Honorable Guests, Respected Scholars

You have come to a country that, through its several-millennia-old history, is an inheritor of many of the great civilizations in human history, populated by a nation. who have written their history with the essence of rationality. spirituality, worship of God, religiosity, egalitarianism, and pacifism. You are the guests of a nation who have raised great philosophers, mystics, sages and poets. Iran is a country where the lantern of philosophy has never been extinguished, the light which even today is illuminating the intellectual, scientific and spiritual atmosphere of our country. You have travelled to the country of Avicenna. He is the very person whose name was mentioned four hundred times by Thomas Aquinas in his famous book of theology (the Summa Theologica). You have travelled to a country whose current Islamic philosophers can proudly trace back their lineage, generation by generation and era by era, without any missing link, for thousands of years

This year, as in previous years, the Islamic Republic of Iran celebrates and commemorates the World Philosophy Day. The Islamic Republic of Iran is pleased that this year the celebration of the World Philosophy Day, with the subject of “Philosophy, Theory and Practice,” is conducted at a higher level and on a greater scale than in previous years, and with the participation of tens of honorable philosophy personalities from different countries, and hundreds of Iranian university and seminary teachers and students.

We all know that many people who are well acquainted with the meaning
and advantages of different scientific and engineering disciplines ask: What is philosophy? What is the advantage of philosophy? What is it that philosophers do and what do they say? In answer to this question one may say: philosophy is an attempt to quench man’s thirst for knowledge; a thirst that is never quenched. But the “knowledge” that the philosopher is searching for is not the knowledge of the relationship between one particular entity and another, for this is the method of experimental science. The philosopher has a universal and profound outlook towards the world. The meaning of knowledge for the philosopher is awareness of the roots, foundations and basis of issues. The philosopher has a profound insight and looks at the inner aspect of things. In studying any of the problems of this universe, and indeed any aspect of the universe, the philosopher tries to go to the roots from the branches, and tries to find out the premises from the conclusion; to move from the secondary to the primary principle. One who looks at the world and the human being with a philosophical outlook may doubt many matters which are considered certain by experimental scientists and mathematicians, and may consider as certain those which others doubt.

This being the case, philosophy should not be considered a mere mental exercise, a rational amusement or a series of astonishing statements. Great philosophers are thinkers whose attention is focused on humanity, who contemplate the history and destiny of human being. According to Avicenna, philosophy is “perfecting the soul of man” through “conceptualization of affairs and the comprehension of theoretical and practical truths, in so far as is humanly possible.” And according to Kant, the main objective of philosophy is to find answers to the following fundamental questions

“What can I know?” “What should I do?”
“What can I hope for?”
and finally, “What does it mean to be human?”

If there are people in this world who believe that the world of today is orderly and human beings can live with peace of mind, it is clear that such people
do not need philosophy. But all those who are disturbed at the sight of war, aggression, injustice, insecurity and violence in today’s world. who witness
the hunger of hundreds of millions of people and the incurable sickness of
tens of millions, who feel the danger of destruction of our ethical foundations and the pillars of the institution of the family, and who are disturbed at environmental imbalance, try anxiously to find the reasons and causes or all this disorderliness. They ask themselves and the intellectuals or their society: What is the problem with our theory and practice, and the relationship between our theory and practice, such that peace has left our world, despite all definitions and formalities? They ask: Why is there such a wide gap between theory and practice in our society? and why is there no compatibility between the theory and practice of the leaders of the great powers? and why is their theory even contradictory to their practice? What is the problem, such that in our world even when theory is accepted it does not lead to practice? For such people, the title “Philosophy: Theory and Practice” which is the subject of this congress, has a deep and significant meaning.
If philosophy, which is the arena of reasoning, thinking and argumentation, fails to show an escape route from this disorderliness and chaos, what is the benefit of all this thinking, speaking, reading, and listening? Philosophers may have differences of opinion – which of course they so often do – but they are not hostile to one another. They try to create a suitable atmosphere for dialogue, to prevent violence and animosity. If the problems of humanity today are not solved through discussion, logic, argument, reflection and reasoning, they will definitely not be solved in the war field or official international forums, seeing that after more than sixty years of the establishment of the United Nations alter the Second World War this Organization has not offered anything to the world. (or, «has not offered any such solution to the world.»)

Honorable Scholars, Philosophers, Dear Guests

In this international congress of “Philosophy: Theory and Practice,” let us remember the saying of the great Persian sage, Rumi, that:
“Thought has no restriction, and within us is the world of freedom.” then Let us think, let us think together, let us think for each other