Collegium Intermarium has started its academic year. The inauguration ceremony took the form of an international conference attended by scholars, politicians and commentators from the US, France, Hungary, Croatia and Poland, among other countries. The guests included French politician Marion Maréchal, New York Post columnist Sohrab Ahmari, Prof. Adrian Vermuele from Harvard University, and former Speaker of the Sejm Dr Józef Zych. The conference is titled “Collegium Intermarium: a space for truth in the era of cancel culture”.
“We want our university, instead of being just another school following the same old patterns and focusing on mass education, to create a space for genuine, open debate, a space for an integral development of students based on classical values,” stressed rector’s representative for international partnerships, Karolina Pawłowska, in her opening speech.
“The rejection of the concept of truth does not only involve its wide-ranging relativisation. At a certain point, it also involves hatred of truth. Currently, the classical understanding of truth is being presented as unconscionable. Many people nowadays would consider it hate speech to claim that objective truth exists,” notes Dr Tymoteusz Zych, rector of Collegium Intermarium, in relation to the subject of the conference.
Deputy Prime Minister Prof. Piotr Gliński, in a letter addressing the attendees, expresses a similar sentiment.
“Modern-day censors no longer make use of official decrees or brute force. Their weapon is the media, disinformation and cancel culture. A deeper analysis of this phenomenon is important and very much needed,” notes the minister of culture.
“It is evident that Western culture, European culture, is being erased. This is why the fundamental role of the academia is to fight for our identity. If we do not act, we will contribute to this mass amnesia,” said Marion Maréchal, founder of the French Institute of Social, Economic and Political Science.
Sohrab Ahmari also commented on the topic.
“In the era of cancel culture, truth is the most pressing issue. We know that truth is under attack – not only the profound moral and metaphysical truths of our classical and Christian heritage, which Collegium Intermarium strives to preserve and cultivate, but even the most fundamental historical and biological facts. For example, today you can be cancelled for stating that man and woman are two immutable biological categories – cancelled even posthumously,” stated the writer and commentator.
A scientific conference "The Phenomenon of Euthanasia. Interdisciplinary Reflections", co-organized by the Ordo Iuris Institute. During the event, the topic was analyzed from the perspective of medicine, law, sociology, philosophy or theology. Speakers presented, among other things, the legal status related to euthanasia in Poland and other European countries. They pointed out the problems raised by the spread of this procedure. Participants also drew attention to the most important measures to counteract the restriction of the right to life.
Representatives of state authorities, outstanding academics and journalists from Poland and abroad take part in the conference inaugurating the establishment of Collegium Intermarium. The goal of the new university is to create a platform of co-operation between academics from the Intermarium region. Its flagship field of specialisation is law, but it also offers a rich programme of postgraduate study courses.
An impediment to the realization of real women's rights is the frequent presentation of the concept in ideological ways. One of the most promoted directions in contemporary discourse to realize women's rights is the gender perspective. However, as it turns out, this concept raises a number of doubts, which stem from its strongly ideological nature and lack of effectiveness in real improvement of the situation of women in the world. The second in the series of conferences "In Defense of Women's Rights" was devoted to these issues.
There is currently a wide-ranging discussion on the concept of women's rights. The Ordo Iuris Institute organized the first in a series of debates on this issue. Two panels were devoted to presenting the political and doctrinal context of the issue of women's rights and women's right to health. The main premise of the conference was to address the issue of women's rights in an ideology-free manner.
The values which form the basis for law have a profound impact on modern Europe. This was the topic of the House on the Rock “Axiology of Law for the Europe of Tomorrow” Conference, which saw many prominent researchers engage in discussion in Rome. The event was organised by the Ordo Iuris Institute and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention of the Rights of the Child by Poland.
© 2016 ORDO IURIS - Instytut Na Rzecz Kultury Prawnej
