International Philosophy Olympiad
The International Philosophy Olympiad is an annual philosophy competition for high school students from around the world, one of the International Science Olympiads. It is organized under the auspices of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies and supported by UNESCO.
History
The International Philosophy Olympiad was founded through an initiative by Ivan Kolev from Sofia University in Bulgaria. The idea was to help replace the Marxist–Leninist subjects taught in schools throughout Eastern Europe between 1947 and 1990. The first Olympiad was held in 1993 in Smolyan, Bulgaria, with three participating countries: Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. The second edition of the Olympiad, in 1994 in Petrich, Bulgaria, two additional countries joined: Poland and Germany. Together with Hungary these countries founded the IPO. The IPO received welcome by UNESCO. Since 2001 the International Philosophy Olympiads have been organized under the auspices of International Federation of Philosophical Societies and with the recognition and support of UNESCO.In 2009 the number of participating countries rose from under 30 to about 40. The IPO 2020 originally scheduled to be held in Lisbon had to be cancelled because of measures against the COVID-19 pandemic. An electronic IPO is organized by Slovenia.
Regulations
Objectives
According to the regulations, the objectives of the IPO are the following:- to promote philosophical education at the secondary school level and increase the interest of high school pupils in philosophy;
- to encourage the development of national, regional, and local contests in philosophy among pre-university students worldwide;
- to contribute to the development of critical, inquisitive and creative thinking;
- to promote philosophical reflection on science, art, and social life;
- to cultivate the capacity for ethical reflection on the problems of the modern world; and,
- by encouraging intellectual exchanges and securing opportunities for personal contacts between young people from different countries, to promote the culture of peace.
Administration
The IPO is run by the following bodies: the International Committee, consisting of the delegation leaders having already organized an IPO, the Steering Board, consisting of members from the FISP, UNESCO and the International Committee, the National Organizing Committee, and the International Jury, consisting of all delegation leaders and teachers.Competition
Students competing in the Olympiad are given four hours to write a philosophical essay on one of four topics given. The topics are provided in the four official languages of the IPO – English, Spanish, French, and German – and the student must choose to write in a language other than his/her own; that is, a native French speaker would not be allowed to write in French.There are five criteria of evaluation.
Evaluation proceeds in three stages:
National selection processes
According to the regulations, the selection of the candidates participating for a particular country are chosen through a selection process which should be organized or be under the auspices of a national philosophical organization member of the FISP. The precise structure of the national competition varies from country to country.Austria
Austria first took part in the IPO in 2005. Since then they have two stages. In the first stage, every bundesland sends the best two or three participants of the Landeswettbewerb to the philosophical akademie. There the second stage takes place and in this Bundeswettbewerb the two best will be sent to the IPO. The first Austrian participant were part of the German delegation in 2004.Czech Republic
The Czech Republic's philosophical competition for high school students was established by Tomáš Nejeschleba at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University in Olomouc in 2011. Since 2012, the competition, called Nebojme se myslet, consists of two stages. In the first stage, students write an essay on one of four topics in Czech. The criteria are the same as in the IPO: relevance to the topic, philosophical understanding of the topic, coherence, power of argumentation, originality. The twenty best essays are qualified for the second stage in which students write a short essay in one of the four official IPO languages. The two best students qualify for the IPO. Since 2014, Jan Čížek from Palacký University has been the main organizer of the Czech philosophical competition. He is also the leader of the Czech delegation at the IPO.Estonia
In Estonia, the selection process, which was initiated by philosopher Leo Luks, consists of two stages. In the first stage, students write an essay at home in their mother tongue. This means that Russian for the country's Russian minority is also accepted. The national jury chooses the 10 best essays for the next stage. In the second round, finalists first spend two days together where they participate in different lectures and workshops. After that, the final competition begins, which consists of four different parts:The two best students represent the country at the IPO.
Germany
In Germany, there are three stages:Hungary
The IPO selection procedure in Hungary is closely related to and based on the National Students Competition in philosophy, which is embedded in a wide range of National high-school competitions organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. All the competitions are organized in 3 levels, over January - April. The competitions in philosophy involve 11th and mainly 12th grade students, altogether approx. 300 students nationwide.The first, school-level round is based on testing knowledge in history of philosophy.
Students with sufficient score are eligible to enter the 2nd round. The second round is about writing an essay, students are free to select one topic out of four. The best papers are selected by a jury of Academics, which consists of Faculty staff members invited by the ME, who will invite the students to the finals, i.e. an oral examination. Hungarian is the only official language all through the national competition levels.
The IPO Selection invites the best 30 students after the 2nd round. Under the supervision of the Hungarian Philosophical Society, a new Jury are being invited who will propose the 4 quotations, and they should evaluate all the papers. Students will take part at the IPO selection where all the IPO rules and regulations are respected: essay-writing, bi-lingual dictionary, timing, evaluation criteria, languages, etc. Usually approx. 15 students take part at the IPO selection and the authors of best 2 papers are proposed to participate at the IPO.
Students receive assistance from their teachers to participate at the competitions, however the Philosophical Youth Camps and the „Philosophical tea-house” movement may also help students to gain and deepen their interest in philosophy.
India
The Indian team does not participate anymore.The Olympiad was non-funded and thus a totally voluntary effort for both the teachers and students. The selection process, which was organized by Kedar Soni, was in two stages:
- Abhinav Philosopher - objective and subjective tasks online to primarily gauge students logical and verbal reasoning. Held around beginning of December by Abhinav Vidyalay. Top 20% are selected to the next stage.
- Indian Philosophy Olympiad - Essay round similar in format to the IPO competition. It is held online around January in a time-bound manner.
After the program, until the IPO, students meet 2-3 times weekly for about 3–4 hours in an online lecture room to discuss essay topics and their arguments.
According to the OC, the IPO's internal politicking has caused them to discontinue organising India's IPO selection.