Philosophy as Love of Wisdom
Its Relevance to the Contemporary Crisis of Meaning
This volume, edited by Patrick Laude and Peter Jonkers, gathers the proceedings of the international conference of the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy “Re-learning to be Human for Global Times: Philosophy as Love of Wisdom” held at Georgetown University in Qatar in January 2018.
Why should one postulate a need to re-learn to be human? Is not “humanness” a given? And if not, how can we define what makes us authentically human? What can philosophy, conceived as a “love of wisdom”, teach us about our humanity? Thirteen scholars hailing from five continents address these crucial questions. The first part of the book – entitled “Philosophy and Wisdom in Different Traditions” – highlight the diversity of the civilizational answers to these questions while emphasizing comparative approaches. The second part – “Comparative Studies on the Philosophy of Love” – places love at the forefront of the quest for wisdom in a cross-civilizational perspective by delving into the implications of the Greek etymological meaning of philosophy as love of wisdom. The third part, “Socio-Political Challenges,” provides the reader with attempts at articulating lessons that can be drawn from some traditional philosophical teachings with regard to pressing contemporary issues.