PHILOSOPHICAL OBSERVATORY OF MEXICO PHILOSOPHICAL OBSERVATORY OF MORELOS & UTOPIA YOUTH ORGANIZATION Within the World Philosophy Day

2011 Celebration Sponsored by UNESCO, CALL FOR THE

FIRST INTERNATIONAL PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY CONTEST

TOPIC
PHILOSOPHYS CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES AMONG THE PRESENT WORLD-WIDE CRISIS

CATEGORIES
A- Senior High School students between 15 to 18 years old. B- Philosophy and/or Humanities College or University students between 19 to 24 years old. C- Philosophy and Humanities Scholars and Researchers.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
a) They will have the right to participate people of any nationality with essays written in Spanish, English, Portuguese or French language. b) The essay must be structured as follows: Abstract/Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. Your footnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout the paper (for footnote instructions consult: http://politics.ucsc.edu/undergraduate/Citation/Chicago%20Style%20Guide.pdf). A last Bibliography/Sources (three printed books as minimum) page in alphabetical order must be included with the following structure: AUTHORS LAST NAME, First name, Title. Publishing House, Printing place, year, page(s). (For articles, magazines, encyclopedias, newspapers, films, etc. consult: http://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/chicago2009.pdf)
1

c) Essays must be original and unpublished. It must be written according to the contests main topic, with personal contributions and logical/argumentative coherence. As a suggestion, the invitation and material is available in: httphttp://diainternacionalfilosofia2011.weebly.com/international-materials.html, in our website http://ofmor.blogspot.com, as well as in the Attachment present at the end of this document. d) Essays must be between 1250 - 2000 words (5-8 pages), double-spaced on letter-size paper (A4), Times New Roman font, 12 pt. on Word (.doc) or PDF. e) Essays must be submitted via e-mail address to: ofmorelos@gmail.com // Subject: International Philosophical Essay Contest Category A/B or C. We will send you back a confirmation e-mail. f) A cover page must be added with the following information: 1) Title 2) Full name and address (specifying the country where you live) 3) Category in which you are applying to 4) College, University, Organization or any other Academic Institution you are part of 5) Personal e-mail address. g) Categories A and B can be guided and receive tutoring form a teacher, in which case, the teachers full name, the subject he/she teaches and the school/institution/college/university (or whatsoever) he/she works in should be added in the cover page. h) Category C must attach in the same e-mail before mentioned a one-page Rsum/ Curriculum vitae. i) Deadline: October 14th, 2011 without exception whatsoever.

j) The jury will have the faculty to disqualify the essay if it does not fulfill the above mentioned requirements.

AWARDS
a) Each Category will be granted three awards: - First place: Diploma, award given by the sponsors and a magazine issue in which the winner essays will be published. - Second place: Diploma and electronic essay publication. - Third Place: Diploma and electronic essay publication. b) Essays submitted to Categories A and B, a diploma shall be granted to the teacher who guided and tutored the research and to the school he/she represents. c) Winning essays results will be made known during the World Philosophy Day 2011 Celebration held at Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico on November 23 th, 2011-November 25th, 2011. The results will also be published on our website: http://ofmor.blogspot.com and the awards will be sent via Certified/Registered Postal Service to the winners. d) Winning essays will be part of the World Philosophy Day Celebrations Memoire which will be published in our website. First place winners of all categories will be also published in Utopia Youth Organizations printed magazine, as part of their Philosophical section.
2

e) The winning yield their author rights to the Philosophical Observatory of Morelos; as a result, the Observatory has the faculty to publish the works in its website and in Utopia Youth Organizations printed magazine, as part of their Philosophical section as described above. The authors will be granted full credit of their presented essays as their own intellectual property; and after a year they will be able to use their work, according to their personal interests and academic aims, always mentioning the original bibliography of Utopia Youth Organizations first edition printed magazine. Nevertheless, both organizations (the Philosophical Observatory of Morelos and Utopia Youth Organization) will have the faculty of publishing the winning essays for their future anthologies with educational and promotional aims, always mentioning, of course, the original author. f) Essay submissions for the present call imply the acceptance to all the above mentioned requirements. The jury will be integrated by experts in this matter, who will have the faculty to declare any category as such and to solve any unpredicted situation that may occur for the present contest in an unquestionable way. ATTACHMENT Although when raising the topic PHILOSOPHYS CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES AMONG THE PRESENT WORLD-WIDE CRISIS we acknowledge it can be approached freely and from different philosophical perspectives, we have considered the urgency to raise some suggestions: - Essays can be freely developed with a philosophical background or from a philosophical branch/point of view: ethics, anthropology, epistemic theories, political philosophy, etc. - In order to guide our criteria about the philosophical area nowadays we highly recommend to you, as a basis for your essay, to read Philosophy: A school of freedom. This book can be downloaded from our website: http://diainternacionalfilosofia2011.weebly.com/international-materials.htmlor you can directly write to us and ask for the PDF to: ofmorelos@gmail.com Here are some guideline aids for your reflections over the main topic: Is there a crisis around Philosophy? Need of a philosophical reframing and a recovery of the humanistic formation. Philosophys place among the present world-wide crisis and the philosophers role in a world ruled by neoliberalism. Which the importance of studying Philosophy during Junior and Senior High School? Societys bond and responsibility with Philosophys task: construction of a democratic society sprung from free human beings. Relation between world-wide violence/perils for human beings and the loss of an ethical conscience for living in a society.