International Declaration for Cooperation, Peace and Philosophy
International Declaration for Cooperation, Peace and Philosophy

Summary/Abstract: We are at a crossroads. Possibly the greatest crossroads humanity has encountered so far in the 21st century. In the midst of truths and lies, of official and "unofficial" viralizations about the state of things, in the midst of great instability there is no doubt that our life has changed significantly. The interests of large corporations and the exploitation of circumstance, fear, paralysis, isolation and the increase of a more individualistic model of life are almost undeniable trends. We find ourselves in an era that requires courage, intelligence and adaptability to change without giving up our fundamental values. But have we asked ourselves about these values and whether they are being put into practice today? Have we thought about what we do and do not want for our world in the 2020's for children, for our families, in education or in the field of work? The procedure for constructing this International Declaration for Cooperation, Peace and Philosophy implied contacting prominent philosophers from 10 countries: Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, United States, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia and Japan. Approximately 5 philosophers or thinkers from each country were invited to form a total group of 50 people. They were sent a series of open and diverse questions with the explicit invitation to include other topics if they considered it pertinent. The colleagues from the countries decided whether to send their texts individually or collectively, thus forming what we called "Pre-Declarations by country". Once the ideas from each region had been grouped together, the compilations were sent again to the participants in each of these places so that they could send their comments, corrections or specifications. Once each of the texts was approved, the Final Declaration was prepared, where we included the most important ideas of each of the Pre-Declarations, seeking to maintain as much as possible the spirit even of the expressions of each text, while avoiding repetitions, and configuring a coherent and unified structure. This is how the present publication was put together, which contains the International Declaration in Spanish, English and French (for being the three most widely spoken languages in the world), the 10 Pre-Declarations per country and a brief summary at the end about each of our guest participants. The subjects of which this text is composed are dialogue, health, presenciality, gender, ethics and care, the importance of the plurality of ideas, society and the construction of citizenship, ecology, economy, technology, education, philosophy and the dimension of peace, which we believe is an agenda of relevant topics of great importance for our time. What is asserted or sustained in each of these sections is not a table of truths, nor does it represent a rigid or conclusive position. Nevertheless, we can say that each one of these topics traverse us today and are issues that we encounter on a daily basis, items on which we have to stop and assume the task of positioning ourselves. Declarations for peace and cooperation are only placebos that mask exploitative and violent social relations unless we observe carefully and decide to act on what we can do in this time of Covid, as it is rightly expressed in the US Pre-Declaration. Although the realization of this work is an action in itself since it implies the willingness of an academic community to cooperate, to accept and dialogue with different ideas, and also the agreement regarding the importance of carrying out a collective labor about our time, it is not enough. The words expressed here are a call to commitment and citizen action. They require much more than reading or disclosure, they imply approaching our immediate environment, observing our ways of life and doing something about it all. I would like to thank all the people who collaborated in this project, especially Patricia Solís Galíndez and Alejandra García from Editorial CECAPFI, William Gourg and Jairo Sandoval for their important translations, Federico Mana, Paulina Ramírez and Shanti Jones for their valuable work in the corrections of the text and especially to Sandra Acevedo, who accompanied several of the steps that were required, collecting along with me the different proposals or discussing different topics to build a single text in the midst of so many and so prolific ideas. (David Sumiacher, Head of CECAPFI International).

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