Aug. 28, 2013
The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP), based at The Catholic University of America, was awarded the 2013 Global Dialogue Prize for its "longstanding efforts in addressing sensitive issues of cultural heritage and contemporary change," according to the award citation. The award was presented in Athens, Greece, at the 23rd World Congress of Philosophy on Aug. 4.
Professor William McBride, president of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP), who inaugurated the award ceremony in Athens, said, "The RVP has been of enormous help in fostering global dialogue through the many conferences it has organized in virtually all parts of the world, and through the several hundred publications of papers presented at these conferences that it has distributed to libraries everywhere. Nothing else comparable to it exists in global philosophy or, I daresay, in other academic disciplines. We are all very grateful to it and to its founder and director, George McLean."
The prize was established to "promote intercultural value research and highlight intercultural understanding as a primary social good," states the website of the Global Dialogue Council, which presented the prize. The award was based on the recommendation of a committee comprising international academic specialists in intercultural dialogue from a wide spectrum of cultural traditions.
The committee cited among the RVP's accomplishments its organization of more than 150 international academic conferences in the last 15 years and in all areas of the world; the publication of more than 300 books in its series "Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change"; and its stature as "the largest network for intercultural value research in the world."
The book series is distributed to 350 key university libraries across the world, is available on Google Books, and, for free download, on crvp.org (the RVP website, which has been included in The Encyclopedia Britannica's list of select research sites). The Council has more than 400 members from 65 countries dedicated to researching and publishing on the role of cultural values in social life.
Founder and director of the RVP, Rev. George McLean, O.M.I., says, "In all this the goal is to build understanding and cooperation among peoples of different cultures as the central challenge of our day." McLean is professor emeritus of philosophy at Catholic University.
The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, located on the campus of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., was founded by Professor McLean in 1970 with its sister organization, the CUA Center for the Study of Culture and Values. "As founder of the RVP, I am grateful for and humbled by this honor," says McLean. "In the new field of intercultural value research this is intended as the equivalent of a new Nobel-type prize, responding specifically to the intercultural challenges of these global times."
The citation by the award committee concludes, "In awarding the GDP to the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy the committee acknowledges the work of all who, as a community of scholars, have realized the academic and cultural achievements of this organization. The committee wishes to recognize and honor in particular the outstanding personal initiative and professional accomplishments of Professor George McLean [who] has endowed the Council with irenic wisdom and a superior vision of global dialogue as a praxis and a spirit that has many human faces."