Barcelona 2002

The 1st international symposium on Raimon Panikkar was held in Barcelona on 20th-23rd February 2002, under the title The Intercultural Philosophy of Raimon Panikkar. It was organized by Intercultura (Barcelona) and Centre UNESCO de Catalunya, and it was originally conceived and skillfully coordinated by Agustí Nicolau (at the time working for Intercultura, currently based at the Institut Interculturel de Montréal). While being at the same time a homage to Panikkar, the symposium was primarily conceived in a spirit of critical analysis and elucidation of his philosophy, thus contributing towards a deeper understanding of it. Therefore, the symposium gathered scholars from different cultures and continents that share a profound knowledge of Panikkar’s intellectual work.

The symposium was launched at the Auditorium Prat de la Riba at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans with an opening lecture by Scott Eastham followed by a musical performance by Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras. The symposium proper was held at the Pati Manning’s Auditorium, with five sessions that always started with a keynote lecture followed by contributions of other invited participants. The keynote lectures were delivered (in chronological order) by Jordi Pigem, Francis X. D’Sa, Joseph Prabhu, Raúl Fornet Betancourt and Gerard Hall. The invited contributions were delivered (in chronological order) by Francesc Rovira, Arcadio Rojo, Andrés Torres Queiruga, Àngel Castiñeira, José Ignacio González Faus, Basarab Nicolescu, Francesc Torralba, Josep Maria Terricabras, Francesc Torradeflot, Raimon Ribera, Lluís Duch, Teresa Guardans, Ferran Iniesta, Young-chan Ro, Kalpana Das, Diana Palanca de Vallescar and Raimon Panikkar himself. The sessions concluded with brief summaries by Ignasi Boada, who also edited the proceedings of the symposium in catalan: La filosofia intercultural de Raimon Panikkar (with a Foreword by Robert Vachon and an Epilogue by Raimon Panikkar), Barcelona: Pòrtic / Centre d’Estudis de Temes Contemporanis, 2004.