The Ends of Man

Every philosophical congress has by necessity a political significance. This is not only due to what has always bound the essence of the philosophical to the essence of the political. Essential and general, this political implication adds weight to it, renders it more serious, and determines its character, especially when the philosophical congress is also an international one. The possibility of an international philosophical conference can be investigated endlessly, along different lines and on multiple levels of generality. In its most general sense, such a possibility implies that, contrary to the essence of philosophy, philosophical nationalities have been formed. At a given moment in a given historical, political and economic context, these national groups have deemed it necessary to organize international meetings, and to be represented by their national identities, and there to determine or relate their respective differences. Such a meeting of differences can take place only to the extent that national philosophical identities are presupposed that are defined by their doctrinal content or by a certain philosophical style. But the relating of differences also presupposes a common element: a meeting can take