From the outset, let me say that although I do not expect to be heard, I remain hopeful that my song of hope will, in some way, reverberate among the spheres.

As the world trembles, it is incumbent on all people of goodwill and practical, rational reason to act as they live to reduce the tremor. The power of people is necessary in the preservation of world peace and philosophical order. We have to neutralize and cancel all enemies of humanity and all living things on Earth, whether glaringly obvious or well hidden! We have no other choice! Indifference spells disaster! The future fate of environmental and biological continuity is at stake. If it is not now, it will come.

As the world trembles and international cooperation is under strain, allow me to address you on behalf of the World Philosophical Forum, whose activities are dedicated to the revival of Classical Scientific and Practical Philosophy, banned in 529 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, the teaching of which in all universities of all countries has now been replaced by the teaching of scholasticism, which is detached from life and far removed from its problems. Let me reiterate that there is no UN without philosophy!, frequently reiterated by our President, Igor Kondrashin.

As the Honorary President of the World Philosophical Forum, I had the opportunity to message the Greek authorities and Greece, our hospitable host, and the wide world to give my personal perspective by saying that I believe that humanity can bypass what Austrian philosopher Günther Anders calls apocalypse-blindness in Western society. Humanity has the tools to bypass and deal with the rapidly growing mindset of concern, whose voice tells us that little time, or no time at all, is left to look back and that we must expand exerted efforts to reshape the future.

There is a horrendous and growing list of ruined lives from war, genocide, colonial misadventure, mass violence, and state brutality against its own as well as against the other, which must be stopped. In this arena, the World Philosophical Forum is a lonely actor. Today, the World Philosophical Forum is a force for positive peace, a term used by the Global Peace Index to define attitudes, institutions, and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies.

Although this is the 15th Dialectical Symposium of the World Philosophical Forum, it is a hard choice for anyone to be here this afternoon to actively participate with so many other cultural activities taking place around us; a UNESCO World Monuments event, an event aimed at raising public awareness regarding the Minoan civilization, the Blackbox Jazz Musiz Festival, or the event in the Parnasos Center this evening are just a few. But we are here! In any case, let me say once again, Welcome Home to Greece—Welcome home of the Dialectical Symposium. Welcome home.

We, the participants of the World Philosophical Forum here in Athens, reach out to the citizens of Greece and the Peoples of the World. Again, we present to you the World Philosophical Forum, which promotes philosophy as a vehicle that can take us to a more reasonable world. It is a passport to reason and wisdom, a valuable instrument for decision-making, personal and political. However, while we are just a philosophical tweak away from implementation, the international community continually drags its feet and puts forward its raincheck.

Given the situation of our world and its harsh reality in Europe and Greece, such a situation is incredible. The harsh grace of our world comes from Aeschylus. Even in our sleep, in our despair, against our will, pain drips from the heart—drop by drop—reminds us of our sufferings, and whether we like it or not, it punishes us, punishes us until, through the awful grace of God, wisdom comes. This cruel reality came from his experience of war. The wisdom in Aeschylus is philosophy, which provides a road to peace. Peace has not yet been declared!

From the United Nations, its Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has indicated the moral status of our world. At the beginning of COP28, he said humanity has opened the gates of hell, a phrase in keeping with Dag Hammarskjold’s phrase that the United Nations was created not to take man to heaven but to save humanity from hell. Today, hell comes closer, in Ukraine and in Gaza. The World Philosophical Forum persistently urges a return to the agenda of the United Nations and the ideas of Ban Ki-Moon in his Education First initiative, with the added incentives for global citizenship and the revitalization of UNESCO’s program. The widespread use and study of philosophy is mandatory.

Let me remind you that the first person to recognize this imbalance in the teaching of scientific and philosophical knowledge in the UN was the former Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova. Realizing this, she initiated the adoption of the "UNESCO Strategy for Philosophy" in 2004. It recommended that scientific and philosophical knowledge be studied everywhere, starting early and in school. In parallel, she established the annual celebration of World Philosophy Day in the month of November. Irina Bokova also put forward the slogan "No UNESCO without philosophy!" which essentially meant "No UN without philosophy!" or "No Humanity without philosophy!"

Today we can see clearly the relevance of her slogans and her admonitions. Here and now, not far from Geneva and closer to Athens, war is ongoing. Outbreaks of hostilities are increasingly visible everywhere, no more flagrantly than in the Middle East. People of all faiths and ages die daily in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

Distinguished Participants, Dear Members of the United Nations! Ww greet you from Athens not for the first time, having addressed you on several occasions, and again on behalf of our President, all Presidents of more than 50 national branches, and all our members. Let me first repeat "Education first!" as said by Ban Ki-moon; "There is no UNESCO without philosophy!" as said by Irina Bokova; and "There is no humanity without philosophy!" as said by Immanuel Kant. These initiatives never received the support of world leaders; their initiators have fallen silent and consequently consigned to oblivion. Should you open the UN and UNESCO websites, you will not find even a trace of them. Why is this? One reason is that we are living at a crossroads where our government neglects public opinion and sometimes rejects scientific expertise.

Neither can we afford to let the world cheer for Hitler, who did not have the atomic bomb, or any other dictator who does or wants one! Without a decisive political turnaround in global affairs and within each country’s home office as well as in the corridors of the international community, we should fear the increasing use of force and the precipitation of illegal wars with increasing frequency. Democracy can be destroyed, and the very survival of humankind is threatened. I designate the prevailing mental condition of our world as social dementia, resulting from the decline of refined mental competence that has become endemic in all power centers of the world.

The World Philosophical Forum in Athens advocates that we must all stand up and fight against social dementia, nonsense peddling, conspiracy theories, and all that is fallacious and strive to give environmental protection an easier passage. To see these issues more clearly must become a universal goal. Young people must be provided with a civic education in non-scholastic philosophy to guide their future civic behavior, slow down or reverse negative trends within society, and help in the rejuvenation of individuals and the renewal of organizations or nations within the framework of global citizenship and the context of one race. It is a matter of mindset, which can be modified and changed. It is difficult for me not to ask: Are we perhaps foolish to think that we can make a difference? Are we perhaps just too romantic to think we can find a way to a better world? We have little clout and a small bite.

2022 brought the greatest number of armed conflicts and wars in the world since the end of the Second World War. It witnessed rising prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. 2022 not only cemented the principle that violence dominates the approach to conflict resolution but also flagged the failure of the international community. Widespread social dementia is weakening altruism's correlate in the human brain, and geopolitical decisions are being made at lower levels of the brain, below the upper cortex, the civilized-refined part. Consequently, universal efforts to stop war or climate change are disrupted. The contemporary mindset is what it is! It is dysfunctional!

A needed change in mindset was foreseen by the previous UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, came forward with his “Education First” initiative, calling on humanity, on all inhabitants of the Earth, to begin studying common, unified civic knowledge and unite into a Single global citizenry. We should be educating more beautiful minds, minds that can address humanity’s most urgent task, which is to create crucial and reliable conditions as an initial step in the building of an unbreakable and unwavering peace on planet Earth, with the prevention of all wars and the banning of all nuclear weaponry in the noble and cognitive spirit of Socrates, the first global citizen. With our small voice for philosophy and peace, cognitively apprehensive with our world driven by authoritarianism, with decision-making in politics shifting to lower cortical brain levels, and where empathy, a bloodline of humanitarian spirit, is losing out, we call for:

  • An immediate ceasefire in all conflict zones, protection of civilians everywhere, and the release of hostages and unjustly imprisoned individuals held by states.

  • A formal reinstatement of a Universal Declaration on the Illegality of Wars on Earth, which the World Philosophical Forum would hope the United Nations will incorporate into their instruments of use and to which they can hold themselves accountable.

An immediate ceasefire in all conflict zones, protection of civilians everywhere, and the release of hostages and unjustly imprisoned individuals held by states.

Furthermore, we propose yet again that a dramatic and symbolic negotiation of world peace be conducted in the sacred place of Delphi, with an agreed-upon Universal Peace Treaty to be signed in the Old Hellenic Parliament of modern Greece.

My personal suggestion to Greece is not to wait until humanity reaches the end of Hellenistic reason, morality, justice, and responsibility before deciding to invest in the wisdom implicit in Greek philosophy. While we last, philosophy is humanity's route back to reason.

Otherwise, we will not avoid the rage of bitterness coming from disgruntled, dejected, disenchanted, disappointed, dissatisfied, but not defeated peoples, to whose end I continue to sing my song of hope. The people of the world have the power to avoid Armageddon and preserve world peace, which can be reinforced by civic education and augmented by philosophical order.