Asia Pacific Philosophy Education Network for Democracy (APPEND)

Origins of APPEND

The first APPEND meeting in 1996 was held as a follow-up of an earlier UNESCO regional meeting of specialists in philosophy teaching in 1995 when educators and philosophers discussed the case for philosophy teaching for democracy in their respective countries, as well as their hopes for future developments. At the 1995 meeting much emphasis was given to the nature of philosophy as reflective and critical thinking. In education, philosophy serves democracy because it teaches students how to deliberate, how to examine, how to question, and it does this by allowing students to do so in the classroom, including the distance education classroom which is so crucial to the developing countries in the region. At this conference, the Asian concern with the whole was especially apparent in discussions on philosophy teaching’s role in science and technology. Out of the meeting came the creation of the Asia-Pacific Philosophy Education Network for Democracy, APPEND.



Responsible Officers

President: Rainier Ibana 

(Email: rai.ibana@gmail.com)

Founding President: Insuk Cha

Immediate Past President: Phillip Cam

Country Representatives (More requested):

                  Australia – Phillip Cam

                  Cambodia – Chanroeun Pa

                  Japan - Taro Michizuki

                  Laos DPR - Bouthavy Insisiengmay

                  Malaysia - Nur Surayyah Madhubala Abdullah

                  Mongolia - Amarbayasgalan Dorjderem

                  Myanmar - Joseph Aik

                  New Zealand - Richard Tweedie

                  Philippines - Luis David, S.J.

                  Republic of Korea – Jinwhan Park

                  Thailand – Suwanna Satha-arand

Secretariat: Rainier Ibana (Email: rai.ibana@gmail.com)

There is also a yahoo email group, and readers are welcome to subscribe to this group.

Some Other Conferences

Wisdom Stories, 18-19 November 2011 in Manila, the Philippines.

APPEND Publications

The contents of these books are available to download.

1.Philosophy and Democracy in Asia (1997)

2. Philosophy, Culture and Education (1999)

3. Science and Human Values in Asia Today (2001)

4. Philosophy, Democracy and Education (2003)

Some papers from the 2008 Conference, Education for Democracy and Sustainable Development Project, held at Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, on 6-7 August 2008, were published in the volume: Darryl R.J. Macer and Souria Saad-Zoy (Editors). 2010. Asian-Arab Philosophical Dialogues on Globalization, Democracy and Human Rights. Bangkok, Regional Unit for Social and Human Sciences in Asia and the Pacific (RUSHSAP), UNESCO Bangkok. v + 119 p. ISBN 978-92-9223-314-3.



APPEND acknowledges the critcal suport of the Korean National Commision to UNESCO, the Philippines National Commission to UNESCO, and RUSHSAP, UNESCO Bangkok. The publications of APPEND are free to download, and APPEND has no connection to Eubios Ethics Institute.