Association Philosophie.ch

The Swiss Portal for Philosophy was founded in 1997 and integrated into an association in 2007 (tax-exempt since 2010). 2020 Philosophie.ch became the publisher of the international journal Dialectica, which is now Open Access.

The association consists of members and a board of directors. It appoints a managing director who is responsible for the operation and expansion of the portal. The annual accounts and the annual report are presented to the members for inspection at the ordinary general assembly and the board is discharged from its duty of supervision and control. New members and proposals for new board members are welcome!

During the general assembly on April 1, 2023, in Biel/Bienne, it was decided that membership would also be free during the 2023 association year (until the 2024 GA) - Therefore, any donation makes us happy and helps us!

The 2024 general assembly will take place on June 29 in Biel/Bienne.

The general assembly of the association for the year 2023 was held on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Biel/Bienne. You can find more information here: https://www.philosophie.ch/gv-ag-ga-2023. The membership fee was set at 0 CHF, and the annual report and accounts for 2022 were approved.

Before this general assembly, we were able to attend a lecture by our president Wolfgang Rother, who, in the Vignes du Pasquart, placed the goal and mission of the portal in the tradition of the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert. Read the text in German and French.

Become a Member

After the taking over the management of the portal on 15 May 2021 by the current director, the (re)organisation of the former organically grown structures was an important initial concern, made urgent by the enlargement of the team and the consistent introduction of quadrilingualism on the portal.

An important step was taken with the adoption of the organisational regulations at the general assembly of 2021 on 5.6.2021, which enabled a clear division of responsibilities and competences between the portal (and its management) and its projects (and the respective project leaders).

Thereafter, in an elaborate effort during the rest of 2021, the managing director, in consultation and sometimes controversial discussion with the team, tried to write down the already existing and newly needed workflows in a way that allows and facilitates the onboarding of new staff and the transfer of acquired competences and information. This process is now complete and we look forward to welcoming new collaborators of all kinds.

As described on the page on the so-called "rehaul" of the portal content, the year 2022 was marked by a reorganisation and rehaul of the existing portal content, which should enable the portal to be opened up in terms of personnel, content and form. At the same time, efforts to acquire new content were intensified in several directions:

• philosophically relevant topics of current debates, such as the pandemic, the Ukraine war, animal ethics (esp. also in connection with food ethics), the climate crisis (ins. also in connection with an online learning course on climate justice), the philosophy of migration and discrimination;
• a systematic and more or less complete cartography of the philosophical microcosm of Switzerland, with its practices, cafés, clubs, societies, festivals, professional associations, interest groups and workshop organisers;
• the creation of a clear overview page on philosophy at Swiss Universites, which should help Swiss philosophy institutes to attract new students;
• an overview page on philosophy in secondary schools, with information on teaching materials, testimonials, the philosophical Olympiads and the place of philosophy in the Swiss education system.

The year 2023 was dedicated to the opening and expansion of the portal. Thanks to new offerings and facilitated participation opportunities, we want to be a platform that serves as a link between:

• academically active philosophers, who can announce events on the portal, present their research projects, publish student work, take charge of thematic sections, and publish interesting articles suitable for a wider audience;
• philosophy students who wish to find like-minded people on the portal, learn about study and continuing education opportunities, publish their work, get to know associations and universities, or consider a stay abroad;
• practicing philosophers who wish to present themselves and their work, showcase their consultations and courses on the portal, develop projects with us, organize Cafés Philo, and expand the philosophical offering in Switzerland;
• secondary school teachers and students interested in philosophy studies, who wish to share teaching materials, test online courses, get to know the Swiss educational system and philosophy study programs, or learn about career opportunities;
• people interested in philosophy, who are interested in philosophical contributions of all kinds, our thematic sections, accessible introductions, our press review, or our own events and research projects.

After somewhat neglecting the technical infrastructure in recent years, we want to finally restore the interactive features of the portal in 2024:

• creation of new articles by users with individual profiles (how-to);
• creation of new announcements by users with institutional profiles (how-to);
• participation in the press review, new publication announcements, SPPS, and student work.