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• The International Philosophy Olympiads (IPO) is a competition for high-school students"• First took place in 1993 by an initiative of the Department of Philosophy of Sofıa University (Bulgaria) to invite a group of philosophers from countries around the world"• Since 2001, the International Philosophy Olympiads have been organized under the auspices of FISP and with the recognition and support of UNESCO"• Takes place every year in May About the International Philosophy Olympiads

• 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"• by encouraging intellectual exchanges and securing opportunities for personal contacts between young people from different countries, to promote the culture of peaceGoals of the IPO

•The first round is held at the regional level, based on the participant’s country of citizenship"•This essay must be written in a language that is not the official language of the student’s country "•Two students are selected from each country to participate in the IPO "•J&B’s program is open to students who are English-speaking Korean citizens (essay will be written in English)IPO Regional Application Qualification

•The competition will be held online using an online proctoring program"•The participant must have access to:"1. WiFi "2. Laptop/desktop with a camera (Chrome browser)"3. Phone with a camera (connected to WiFi) and a tripod/stand"4. Photo ID"5. 1 blank sheet of paper (A4) "•iPad, earphones/headphone, Korean-English dictionary not permittedIPO Regional Round Guidelines

Choose one of the following quotes that contains philosophical thought and use it as a starting point to freely develop a philosophical discussion. Write your essay in a foreign language (English, French, or German)."1. When we say that pleasure is the goal we do not mean the pleasures of the dissipated and those which consist in the process of enjoyment ... but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the mind. For it is not drinking and continuous parties nor sexual pleasures nor the enjoyment of fish and other delicacies of a wealthy table which produce the pleasant life, but sober reasoning which searches out the causes of every act of choice and refusal and which banishes the opinions that give rise to the greatest mental confusion."EPICURUS (341~270 BC.), “Letter to Menoeceus,” Hellenistic Philosophy, A.A. Long (1986), p.652024 IPO Regional First Round Essay Topics

2. There are two facts about the human soul on which depend all things we know of its nature. The first is that it thinks; the second is that it is united to the body and can act and be acted upon along with it. About the second I have said hardly anything. [...] It does not seem to me that the human mind is capable of conceiving at the same time the distinction and the union between body and soul, because for this it is necessary to conceive them as a single thing and at the same time to conceive them as two things; and this is absurd. [...] Everyone feels that he is a single person with both body and thought so related by nature that the thought can move the body and feel the things which happen to it."RENÉ DESCARTES (1596~1650), “Letter to Princess Elizabeth (1643),” Descartes' Philosophical Letters, trans. Anthony Kenny (1970), p.137, p.1422024 IPO Regional First Round Essay Topics Continued

3. By a name here I will mean a proper name, i.e., the name of a person, a city, a county, etc. It is well known that modern logicians also very interested in definite descriptions: phrases of the form ‘the x such that φx’, such as ‘the man who corrupted Hadleyburg’. Now, if one and only one man ever corrupted Hadleyburg, then that man is the referent, in the logician’s sense, of that description. ...under certain circumstances a particular speaker may use a definite description to refer, not to the proper referent, in the sense that I’ve just defined it, of that description, but to something else which he wants to single out and which he thinks is the proper referent of the description, but which in fact isn’t. So you may say, ‘The man over there with the champagne in his glass is happy’, though he actually only has water in his glass. Now even though there is no champagne in his glass, and there may be another man in the room who does have champagne in his glass, the speaker intended to refer, or maybe, in some sense of ‘refer’, did refer, to the man he thought had the champagne in his glass."SAUL KRIPKE (1940~2022), Naming and Necessity (1980), pp.24-252024 IPO Regional First Round Essay Topics Continued

4. [W]hat is meaningfulness? I argued in the last lecture for a conception that combined aspects of two popular views. Like the Fulfillment View, which tells us to find our passions and pursue them, my view acknowledges a subjective component in the meaningful life. A person who is alienated from her life, who gets no joy or pride from the activities that comprise it, can be said to lack meaning in her life. Like the view that associates meaning with involvement in something “larger than oneself,” however, my view also recognizes an objective component. According to what I called the Fitting Fulfillment View, a life is meaningful insofar as its subjective attractions are to things or goals that are objectively worthwhile. That is, one’s life is meaningful insofar as one finds oneself loving things worthy of love and able to do something positive about it. A life is meaningful, as I also put it, insofar as it is actively and lovingly engaged in projects of worth."SUSAN WOLF (1952~), Meaning in life and why it matters (2010), pp.34-35"2024 IPO Regional First Round Essay Topics Continued

• Every student writes an essay on one of the four topics given to them"• The essay must be written in one of the following languages: English, German, French, Spanish "• The only aid that may be used during the students’ essay-writing are paper version (non-electronic) bi-lingual and mono-lingual dictionaries"• The time of writing is 4 hours"• Awards are symbolic “medals”: gold, silver, bronze, and honorable mention, and the Steering Committee may grant more than one medal in each category"IPO Contest2024 IPO in Helsinki, Finland "Held in different country every year

1. “At times the truth shines so brilliantly that we perceive it as clear as day. Matter and habit then draw a veil over our perception, and we return to a darkness almost as dense as before. We are like those who, though beholding frequent flashes of lightning, still find themselves in the thickest darkness of the night.”"Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed (ca. 1190 AD), transl. M. Friedländer [slightly revised]."New York: Dover, 1956, p. 3."2024 32nd IPO Essay Topics

2. "Once war has been declared for just causes, the prince should press his campaign not for the destruction of his opponents, but for the pursuit of the right for which he fights and the defence of his homeland, so that by fighting he may eventually establish peace and security.”"Francisco de Vitoria, “On the Law of War” (1539), in Id. Political Writings, ed. A. Pagden & J. Lawrance."Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991, p. 327.2024 32nd IPO Essay Topics Continued

3. “What is the status of citizenship today, in a world of increasingly deterritorialized politics? How is citizenship being reconfigured under contemporary conditions? How has the fraying of the four functions of the state – territoriality, administrative control, democratic legitimacy, and cultural identity – affected the theory and practice of citizenship?”"Seyla Benhabib, The Rights of Others. Aliens, Residents, and Citizens, Cambridge:"Cambridge UP, 2004, p. 144."2024 32nd IPO Essay Topics Continued

4. “Artificial intelligence is not an objective, universal, or neutral computational technique that makes determinations without human direction. Its systems are embedded in social, political, cultural, and economic worlds, shaped by humans, institutions, and imperatives that determine what they do and how they do it. They are designed to discriminate, to amplify hierarchies, and to encode narrow classifications. When applied in social contexts such as policing, the court system, health care, and education, they can reproduce, optimize, and amplify existing structural inequalities. This is no accident: AI systems are built to see and intervene in the world in ways that primarily benefit the states, institutions, and corporations that they serve.""Kate Crawford, The Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence (2021)."Yale: Yale UP, 2021, p. 211.2024 32nd IPO Essay Topics Continued

• Deepen your understanding of fundamental philosophical concepts"• Practice engaging in intellectual discourse "• Gain the opportunity to exchange ideas and interact with students who share a passion for philosophy from around the world"• Enhance your ability to think critically, articulate complex ideas, and defend your position"• Experience philosophical exploration at a deeper level"• Grow as a thinker and scholar! Why Should I Enter?

January 2025"• IPO Regional Preliminary Round "May 2025 "• IPO Competition Contest Dates