The theme of this year’s International Philosophy Olympiad is Freedom and Reason.

Philosophy is the exercise of reason that can only thrive in freedom. Freedom and Reason form the environment for responsible reflection, critical judgment, and intellectual independence: Freedom without reason lacks direction; reason without freedom loses meaning.

Freedom and Reason are also important elements of the historical and intellectual heritage of this region, marked by struggles for freedom and a strong tradition of philosophical scholarship. It is home to the Lviv–Warsaw School —one of the most important philosophical movements of the twentieth century—committed to clarity of thought, rigor of argument, and intellectual responsibility. Influential philosophers from Poland include Jan Łukasiewicz, Alfred Tarski, Ludwik Fleck, Tadeusz Kotarbiński, Roman Ingarden, Henryk Elzenberg, Leszek Kołakowski, Izydora Dąmbska, and Maria Ossowska.

Freedom and Reason is an invitation to the philosophical practice of free and disciplined thinking, indispensable given the challenges of the contemporary world.