Scholars and Thinkers From Two Hemispheres Will Journey To University Next September for Philosophical Conference

The program and speakers for the sixth International Congress of Philosophy which is to meet at Harvard next September were announced yesterday by Professor R. B. Perry '98, of the University, who is chairman of the Program Committee. This assembly, which has been held at irregular intervals in various cities of Europe is coming to America for the first time this year.

It will be in session here under the auspices of the University from Monday, September 13, until Friday, September 17 inclusive. The conferences, lectures, and dinners will be held in the University buildings, and arrangements will be made for housing delegates and members in Standish and Smith Halls.

The Congress will have a really international and widely representative aspect, for it is almost certain that representatives of all the important nations of the world will be present when the opening session is held on September 13. At least five or ten delegates are expected from England, France, Germany, and Italy, Switzerland, Poland, South Africa and India. President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia is Chairman of the Organizing Committee, and in a sense the leader of the congress. Among other distinguished American guests who will be present are President Augell of Yale, and President Hibben of Princeton.

Professor W. E. Hocking '01 of the University who is President of the Eastern Branch of the American Philosophical Association, is in charge of the reception of the distinguished guests and will also deliver the address of welcome Professor J. H. Woods '87, also of the University, is head of the Entertainment Committee.

The Congress will be divided, for facility in handling the work to be undertakes, into four groups which will be arranged according to the four chief divisions of philosophy. These groups are to be as follows:

Division A--Metaphysics, including philosophy of nature, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion.

Division B--Logic, epistemology and the philosophy of science.

Division C--Theory of values, that is ethics, social philosophy, aesthetics.

Division D--History of Philosophy.

On Monday, September 13, the opening day, the initial gathering will be held in the evening. It will consist of several brief addresses of welcome, a reply by a representative of the foreign delegates, and after the speeches an informal smoker.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings, from 9.30 until 12.30 o'clock there will be simultaneous meetings of sections in all four divisions. Other arrangements and general division meetings are planned as follows:

Tuesday, September 14 --In the afternoon an excursion, the particulars of which will be determined later, and in the evening a general session of Division A.

Wednesday, September 15--A general session of Division D in the afternoon.

Thursday, September 16--General business meeting in the afternoon and in the evening a meeting of all the delegates in Division C.

Friday, September 17--General session of Division D in the afternoon, and in the evening an official dinner or reception. The exact nature of this last event has not yet been determined.

The subjects for discussion in the various sessions of the divisions have been arranged as fellows:

Division A--General session: The hypothesis of emergent evolution, its meaning and the present state of the argument concerning it. Section 1, Physics and metaphysics, with special reference to the problem of time; Section 2, philosophy of religion, with special reference to mysticism in the East and the West; Section 3, philosophy of mind, with special reference to the nature of the community between minds; Section 4, open session with the following topics suggested; relation of biology and metaphysics, realism and idealism, value and existence, the concept of personality.

Division B--General session; continuity and discontinuity among the sciences; Section 1, the status and relations of sensa and scientific objects; Section 2, the doctrine of subsistence and essence in current logic and epistemology; Section 3, the bearing of the distinction of judgments of value and judgments of existence upon logic and epistemology; Section 4, an open session with synthetic judgments a priori; memory, its significance for epistemology; and logic of probability and theory of induction as suggested topics.

Division C--General session: Philosophy and international relations. Section 1, the basis of objective judgments in ethics; Section 2, aesthetics; Section 3, the philosophy of law; Section 4, open session with the suggested topics, philosophy of history, political philosophy and philosophy of education.

The speakers at the general sessions will include among other prominent philosophers, H. Driesch of Leipzig, A. A. Lovejoy of Baltimore, F. Enriques of Rome, W. E. Hocking of Harvard, J. Dewey of New York, G. Gentle of Rome, Dean Roscoe Pound of Cambridge, E. Gilson of Paris, H. O. Taylor of New York.

Professor R. B. Perry of Harvard, commenting editorially in the current number of the Alumni Bulletin on this first Congress of International Philosophers ever held in the United States, says:

"Harvard with next autumn have the honor of extending its hospitality to the sixth International Congress of Philosophy. Previous Congresses have been held at Paris (1900), Geneva (1904), Heidelberg (1908), Belogna (1911), and Naples (1924). The fifth Congress, which had been fully planned for London in 1915, was abandoned on account of the War, while the Naples Congress failed to secure a well-balanced representation. Hence the Congress next autumn will be not only the first congress of its kind ever held in America, but the first such congress since the War, in which will gather for friendly and helpful discussion of their common problems.

"Although arrangements are as yet incomplete, it is already certain that England, France, Germany, and Italy will each be represented by from five to ten delegates and that there will be at least one eminent thinker from Russia, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Poland, South Africa, Canada, and India. Not less notable will be the attendance from America. There will be upwards of 150 philosophers representing all of the leading American colleges and universities, and including all of the more eminent men in the field. Several university presidents including President Butler of Columbia, President Augell of Yale, and President Hibben of Princeton, will participate in the Congress as presiding officers. The subject of philosophy will be broadly interpreted to include such subjects as the relation of philosophy to new scientific theories in physics and biology, the philosophy of history, education, and other social sciences, aesthetics, and religion.

"The international character of the Congress will be emphasized not only in its personnel, but in its deliberations, one session, being devoted to a discussion of the topic of "Philosophy and International Relations," and another to a summary of present tendencies of thought in the different countries represented.

"Special emphasis is to be placed on the social aspect of the Congress. Over and above the formal entertainment which will be provided, arrangements have been made to house, the visiting delegates in the Freshman Dormitories where they will take their meals together, and will have abundant opportunity for informal contacts and friendly intercourse.

"Harvard will take a special pride in the success of the Congress, not only because of her high reputation as a seat of philosophical inquiry, but because of her eager desire to contribute in all possible ways both to the discovery and spread of truth, and to the promotion of world-wide good will.