International Philosophy Olympiad

The International Philosophy Olympiad (IPO) is one of the International Olympiads for high-school pupils. It first took place in 1993. This was an initiative of the Department of Philosophy of Sofia University to invite a group of philosophers from various countries. Since 2001 the IPO has been organized by the International Federation of Philosophical Societies and with the recognition and support of UNESCO.

The logo of the International Philosophy Olympiad

Objectives

The objectives of the IPO are:

• 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 school 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; and,
• by encouraging intellectual exchanges and securing opportunities for personal contacts between young people from different countries, to promote the culture of peace.

Organization

The IPO is organized every year in May, by one of the participating countries. The national delegations promote the study of Philosophy in their home country. They organize a national competition in Philosophy.

The IPO is open to pupils from every country in the world who are in high school, either at the time of the competition, or, in countries where the school year ends in December in the year before, or earlier than May the same year, even if they are enrolled at a university at the time of the IPO. They must be under 21.

The host country can set a theme of the Olympiad. This is for the lectures and workshops. it is not for the contest topics. They should reflect a variety of philosophical disciplines.

Each country can have one or two pupils. The host country can have 10 pupils.

Format

a) Before March 1 of the year of the competition, each delegation leader is expected to send one proposal of a topic to the Secretary General of FISP. The Steering Board select four topics from among those sent and/or other topics of their choice.

They will be provided with the sources according to academic rules. Quotations will be provided in the best available translation, and with bibliographic data according to academic standards. If no good translation(s) is (are) available, the Secretary General of FISP will provide (a) new translation(s), mentioning the translator(s) by name.

b) Writing the Essays

I. Every student writes an essay on one of the four topics given to them.

II. The essay must be written in English, German, French, or Spanish. It must not be written in the official language(s) of the student’s state (e.g., a German does not write in German).

The only aid that may be used during the students´ essay-writing are bi-lingual dictionaries in the pupils´ own language and one of the official IPO languages (English/German/French/Spanish), and mono-lingual dictionaries in one of the official IPO languages. Such dictionaries must be in paper versions, not in any electronic format.

III. The time of writing is 4 hours.

IV. The names of the authors of all essays are encoded. They are not known to the assessors until the final ranking is fixed.

c) Grading the essays

I. The criteria of evaluation are: relevance to the topic, philosophical understanding of the topic, persuasive power of argumentation, coherence, and originality.

II. Each assessor gives his or her marks on a scale of 1 to 10 points, from 7 points upwards using intervals of .5.

• 7.5-10 points means: I suggest this essay for the next stage.

• 6-7 points means: I myself don’t suggest this essay, but I will agree if somebody else selects this essay.
• 1-5 points means: I suggest that this essay should not be accepted for the next stage.

III. At the first stage of the grading each essay is marked by four assessors. If there are more than 3 points of difference among the individual marks, a fifth assessor will be appointed. At the end of the first stage all the essays which have received an average grade of at least 7 points are selected for the second stage.

IV. At the second stage each remaining essay is marked by two additional assessors.

The average mark of an essay is calculated on the basis of all the marks it has received – both the marks of the assessors at the first stage and the marks of the two assessors at the second stage. At the end of the second stage the Jury of the IPO selects as many of the best essays as it wishes for consideration in the third stage.

V. At the third stage the Steering Board will decide on the distribution of prizes.

Awards

Awards are symbolic “medals”: golden, silver, and bronze, and honorable mention. The Steering Committee may grant more than one medal in each category.