© IIS
Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi

Since 1956, UNESCO celebrates the memory of eminent personalities from all over the world. In the last five years, it has taken part in commemorations of several philosophers from various cultures who have influenced the thinking of humanity down through the ages.

800th anniversary of the birth of Rumi (1207-1273)
"I do not distinguish between the relative and the stranger," said the illustrious Persian-language poet, thinker and spiritual leader Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi. Born in 1207 in Balkh, now Afghanistan, he lived almost all of his life in Konya, presently Turkey, where he died in 1273. He remains one of the greatest thinkers and scholars of Islamic civilization.

100th anniversary of the birth of Ladislav Hanus (1907-1994)
Ladislav Hanus, Slovak philosopher and theologian, is best-known for his major work The Philosophy of Refinement. After spending 16 years in jail under the communist regime during which he was prevented from writing, he resumed his philosophical and theological endeavours when the regime fell and published two substantial books, "Church as a Symbol" and "The Principle of Pluralism."

150th anniversary of the death of Danzanravjaa Dulduitiin, philosopher (1803-1856)
A Buddhist thinker with many talents, ranging from music to architecture and philosophy to the theatre, Danzanravjaa Dulduitiin exerted an important influence on thought and culture, well beyond the borders of Mongolia. After studying art, letters and philosophy, he took up residence in the 1820s in the Galbyn Uul monastery, which became a local centre for education, culture and art. He also founded a theatre troupe, a library and a school in the Khamar monastery, near which now stands a museum commemorating him.

200th anniversary of the death of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
A major 18th century philosopher, Immanuel Kant is a pillar of Western philosophy. A disciple of Hume and Rousseau, he wrote notably “Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?” in which he wrote “Enlightenment is man's emergence from self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity and dependence are the inability to use one's own intellect without the direction of another. One is responsible for this immaturity and dependence, if its cause is not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of determination and courage to think without the direction of another. Sapere aude! Dare to know! is therefore the slogan of the Enlightenment."

600th anniversary of Leone Battista Alberti (1404-1472)
An Italian Renaissance humanist, Leone Battista Alberti was an author, philosopher, painter, architect and art theoretician. He is known primarily for his treatises, including De picture (1435), considered the first scientific study of perspective. Giorgio Vasari, author of Vite, the first art history work in Europe, wrote in 1550 about Alberti that he was a highly civilized and very cultured person, a friend to the talented, affable and liberal towards all: he lived honorably as the gentleman he was.

100th anniversary of the birth of Theodor Adorno (1903-1969)
German philosopher, sociologist, composer and musicologist, Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund-Adorno was one of the first to think about the memory of Auschwitz as a fundamental element of German identity, and even European identity. Nazism, he said, imposed a new categorical imperative on humanity: to think and to act so that Auschwitz would not repeat itself, so that nothing similar could happen.”

1000th anniversary of the birth of Nasir Khusraw (1003-1087)
Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani (Iran) or Abdulmuiddin Nosiri Khosrav (Tajikistan), eminent philosopher, poet and theologian in the Persian language, produced more than 40 treatises that exerted great influence on Persian culture and thought. His most famous work is "Safarnama", or "Book of Travels." In the book, which has been translated into over 30 languages, Nasir Khusraw describes the places he visited (Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, etc) and portrays the people he met, against a background of philosophical, religious and humanist reflection.

900th anniversary of the birth of Khodja Abdulkholiq Al-Gijduvoni (1103-1079)
Khodja Abdulkholiq Al-Gijduvoni, founder of the Sufi school Khodjagons Tarigot (dervish path) in Central Asia, is famous for having taught the ways of tolerance and peace. His writings include philosophical and moral works as well as poetry. He was born and lived in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

© AKG
Immanuel Kant (anonymous painter)

© Vitruvio
Leon Battista Alberti (anonymous painter)