RAWALPINDI: Speakers pointed out the need for integrating philosophy in academia and laid stress on the fact that social scientists must adopt explanations, empirical arguments, theories and hypotheses that actually occur in social science literature.
They were speaking at a two-day International Conference on Bringing Philosophy Back in the Academic Track (ICBPBAT) 2023 that concluded at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) on Friday.
The conference was organised by the PMAS-AAUR Faculty of Social Sciences with the aim to explore ways to bring philosophy back on the academic track.
About 200 research papers relevant to different subjects of social science were presented at the international conference.
The speakers that addressed the conference included senior academicians in the fields of economics, education, sociology, anthropology, humanities and many other multi-disciplinary subjects from the famous universities of the USA, Austria, and China, as well as from different universities and federal ministries and provincial departments of Pakistan.
The chief guest at the conference was Rector, International Islamic University Islamabad Prof. Dr Samina Malik, and the guests of honour were former Allama Iqbal Open University Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Shahid Siddiqui, Vice Chancellor Muslim Youth University Prof. Dr Saeedul Hassan Chishti, Vice Chancellor PMAS-AAUR Prof. Dr Mohammad Naeem, and DG IRI International Islamic University Islamabad Prof. Dr Mohammad Ziaul Haq.
Speakers highlighted that a social scientist can play an important role in designing the fate of society. The fate of society lies in the fate of individuals. As social scientists, they said that we must follow the basic ideas, concepts, logic, and methods of philosophy while focusing on how individuals behave within society, explaining how society works, and exploring everything from the triggers of economic growth and minimising the causes of unemployment to what makes people happy.
PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Naeem said that academia and philosophy are closely connected to each other. It is the job of intellectuals and thinkers to seek methods to implement philosophies to spread awareness about the nature, sources, and social values of knowledge, he said.
He hoped that the conference would not only be helpful to promote research and developmental activities in the social sciences and humanities but also to promote scientific information interchange between researchers, developers, engineers, students, and practitioners working in and around the world.
He said that the outcomes of the international conference were aimed at giving value to philosophy in the teaching of various subjects in the social sciences. He further added that using philosophy in teaching practices, practicing philosophies and related theories for gaining deeper understanding and desired results, allowing teachers and thinkers to foreground knowledge in implementing the latest and classical trends of the fields, and propagating the core philosophical concepts of good or bad, right or wrong, is extremely important.
Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2023