On the morning of March 26^th, the signing ceremony of Memorandum of Agreement for the 24th World Congress of Philosophy (WCP) was held at Lin Huxan, Peking University (PKU), which marked PKU and the Chinese philosophical circle were awarded the right to host and the preparation work was official initiated.
 

After the signing ceremony, Professor Zhu Shalu, Chairperson of the PKU council, met Mr. Dermot Moran, President of International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP), Prof. Luca Maria Scarantino, Secretary-general of FISP, and Prof. William Leon McBride, the Immediate Past President of FISP at the Lakeview Hotel Meeting Room.Professor Zhu Shalu said that this international philosophical grand gathering will further promote the development of philosophy in China, provide an excellent platform for international collaboration and exchanges in the aspect of philosophy, and be taken as a golden opportunity to facilitate the development of all the social sciences in PKU.

Prof. Wang Enge, President of PKU, attended the signing ceremony and delivered a speech. Prof. Wang Enge first extended warm welcome for all the scholars coming from afar. He said that as a long-history subject, philosophical branch of PKU enjoys high reputation in the world. PKU will, as always, firmly support the development of the subject of philosophy, and it will make full preparation for the 24th World Congress of Philosophy together with FISP and members of the Chinese philosophical circle.

Mr. Dermot Moran expressed congratulations to PKU. During the ceremony, Moran said the World Congress of Philosophy was mostly hosted by European countries during the past 114 years, since it was first held in 1900. He said the conference in Beijing in 2018 will be only the second time for the congress to be held in an Asian country, after it was held in Seoul, Korea, in 2008.
He also hoped that the session to be held in Beijing will be the most successful one in WCP’s history, which represents a grand philosophical meeting with wide-ranging characteristics.


During March 26-27, FISP will also work with Chinese scholars to hold a two-day international symposium under the topic of “Learning to be Human”.
 

 Wrote by: Zhang Jiang Chen Yuanyuan Dui Yanjin
 Translated by: He Yicheng 
 Source: PKU news (Chinese) http://pkunews.pku.edu.cn/xxfz/node_185.htm