Latest news

The 20th Anniversary of the Ferrater Mora Chair

4th December 2010

Photo taken at Wittgenstein conference in Girona, Spain, 1989.

A major exhibition has been launched in Catalonia, Spain, to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Ferrater Moral Chair (1989-2009) in the University of Girona.

The exhibition will last from 13th November, 2010 to 30th January, 2011. The opening ceremonies included the Rector of the University, the Mayor of Girona, Professor Josep-Maria Terricabras, the Director of the Ferrater Mora Chair, and Professor Priscilla Cohn, Associate Director of the Centre.

The Chair offers seminars in each academic year, presided over by eminent thinkers who use them to explain the fundamental basis of their thought. Leading figures from many different fields, ranging from philosophy to the arts or the sciences, whether formal or experimental, historical or social, have participated.  The first seminar was directed by Ferrater Mora himself in November, 1989. Other leading thinkers, such as Ricoeur, Chomsky, Prigogine, Cavalli-Sforza, and Peter Singer have also led seminars.

“The Chair was designed as a university institution that encourages intellectual rigour and a capacity for dialogue” commented Professor Terricabras. “The exhibition, like all of Ferrater’s work, is intended to be an ‘open house’ that can be of interest to non-specialists and students alike. The technological and interactive features of the exhibition are designed to emphasize that the philosophy of the present must look towards the future and not only to the past.”

The Ferrater Mora Chair also comprises contains Ferrater Mora’s personal library of some 7,000 books and an almost equal number of letters and correspondence.

The Oxford Centre was named after Ferrater Mora because of his humanitarian thought and his pioneering opposition to animal cruelty, especially bullfighting.

More information about the Chair and the exhibition is here.