Why establish the Brazilian Philosophy Prize and make Rio de Janeiro the world capital of Philosophy ?

Interview with Jean-Yves Beziau by Flawé de Lara Bone 

Copacabana,  July 7, 2026

1. Flawé:   Why create the Brazilian Philosophy Prize — “Wonderful Philosophy”?

JYB:  The prize arose from the convergence of two experiences. The first was the preparation of the World Philosophy Congress “What Is It? That's the Question!”, conceived to bring together in Rio de Janeiro, in July 2026, researchers from different countries, areas and traditions around the founding question of philosophy ti esti , “what is it?”. I presented a lecture on this question at the 25th World Philosophy Congress, held in Rome in 2024; and I have been developing graduate courses and a series of papers entitled “What is X?” (for example, “What is a diagram?” ), in addition to a general methodology composed of eleven  procedures of conceptual investigation. 

The second experience was the creation, in 2014, of the Newton da Costa Brazilian Logic Prize , in honor of my former advisor. This initiative led to the establishment of the World Logic Prize , a competition among winners of national prizes. The first world edition took place in 2018 in Vichy, France, with ten countries; the third, in 2025, in Cusco, Peru, brought together more than twenty . This trajectory showed that a well-conceived prize can reveal talents, bring intellectual communities closer together, and stimulate original production. 

It therefore seemed natural to me to create a philosophy prize in Brazil with a universal vocation and then build an international competition among winners from different countries. The question "What is X?" offers the ideal axis for this project: it is simple, understandable, and open to any theme, but it demands clarity, rigor, imagination, and the ability to define. It allows for a combination of conceptual unity and thematic plurality, precisely at a time when contemporary philosophy suffers from excessive fragmentation and a lack of dialogue between its areas. 

One might ask why create yet another prize, given that so many others already exist. The answer is that it's not about multiplying honorary distinctions, but about filling a gap. There is no Nobel Prize in Philosophy, and many existing philosophical prizes are highly specialized or primarily recognize already established careers. The "Wonderful Philosophy" project seeks to value ongoing research, conceptual creation, and the human capacity to understand and transform the world. Its horizon is broad: philosophy is not a collection of personal opinions nor a simple comparison of authors, but a rational activity that begins with wonder, advances through well-formulated questions, and can even culminate in a fruitful aporia. 

The initiative also extends a conviction that guided the creation of World Logic Day , celebrated on January 14th and recognized by UNESCO in 2019 : logic and philosophy are fundamental dimensions of humanity. If logic organizes reasoning, philosophy questions meaning, concepts, and ends. A universal philosophy prize can give visibility to this common potential and encourage new ways of thinking in Brazil and around the world. 

2. Flawé: Were you surprised by the reception and the outcome of the first edition of the Prize?

JYB:   My impression is extremely positive. We received 26 essays from different regions of the country, dedicated to a wide variety of themes. Launching a new project involves risks and uncertainties, but the first edition showed that the proposal found real resonance. The formula "What is X?" proved capable of mobilizing participants of different ages, backgrounds, and styles, uniting works on logic, ethics, philosophy of technology, language, and other fields. 

I am not entirely surprised, because I am familiar with the vitality of Brazilian philosophy. My relationship with the country began in 1991, when I spent a year in the Philosophy Department at USP (University of São Paulo), at the invitation of Newton da Costa. Since then, I have participated in events in many regions, attended ANPOF (National Association of Graduate Studies in Philosophy) meetings, and followed the activities of universities, journals, research groups, and outreach initiatives. Brazil possesses a unique presence of philosophy in teaching, in the publication of classics, and in public debate. The "Os Pensadores" (The Thinkers) collection, whose importance was recently highlighted by Marly Bulcão and Marcelo de Carvalho in a lecture on José Américo Motta Pessanha at   the Philosophy on the Beach seminar in Leme, is a remarkable example of this history of philosophical dissemination.

What remained uncertain was the reception of a competition centered not on a school, an author, or a subdiscipline, but on a common methodological question. The result was encouraging. Some essays drew attention for their choice of unexpected objects; others, for their logical precision, literary sensitivity, methodological inventiveness, or argumentative strength. The whole showed that philosophy produced in Brazil is not limited to importing or commenting on traditions: it is capable of formulating problems, constructing concepts, and experimenting with new forms of investigation.

The selection of the award-winning works was difficult precisely because the best essays were so different from each other. The gold medal was awarded to a technically sophisticated study on the conditional; the silver medal to an essay of great literary and conceptual quality on artificial intelligence; and the bronze medal to an innovative investigation into helping, articulating normative ethics and experimental moral philosophy. This diversity perfectly corresponds to the spirit of the project: one common question, many objects, and several rigorous ways of thinking.

The first edition was therefore a success. It confirmed the strength of the Brazilian philosophical community and demonstrated that there is room for initiatives that bring together conceptual rigor, creativity, regional diversity, and public communication. The challenge now is to consolidate the prize, improve its operation, and transform it into a lasting meeting point between Brazilian and international philosophy.

3. Flawé: How can we make the Brazilian Philosophy Prize part of a World Philosophy Prize?

JYB:  The Brazilian Philosophy Prize — Wonderful Philosophy — will continue to be a national competition, open to people residing in Brazil and centered on the question "What is X?". Its winners will present their work at the congress held in Rio de Janeiro. In parallel, we are creating prizes with the same structure in other countries, so that their winners can participate in a world competition during a future edition of the event.

We have already launched the prize in Brazil and Switzerland . The initial goal is to form a network of at least ten countries. I have been talking with colleagues from different parts of the world to develop local models that respect the linguistic and institutional particularities of each place, without losing the unity of the project. A Japanese prize, for example, could receive essays in Japanese; an Italian prize, in Italian. The winners, however, will have to present their work in English at the world congress, in order to ensure a common language of communication among participants from diverse backgrounds.

The simultaneous experience of Brazil and Switzerland is particularly interesting. In Brazil, essays are submitted in Portuguese, while the presentations of the award winners at the international congress are given in English. In Switzerland, a country with four national languages, the choice was made directly for English, which functions as a cross-disciplinary language of communication. It's not about erasing national languages, but about combining local expression and international circulation.

Institutional support will be crucial. The Swiss Consulate in Rio de Janeiro supported the first Swiss edition and funded the winner's trip to Brazil. We hope that other consulates, universities, foundations, and philosophical associations will do the same. This model allows for the simultaneous promotion of each country's philosophy and global dialogue, without imposing an excessively centralized organization.

The frequency of the congress and the world prize — every two or three years — will still be defined in light of the experience of the first edition and the growth of the international network. The goal is to build the project gradually, solidly, and sustainably: first consolidating the national prizes, then bringing them together into a true World Philosophy Prize “What Is It?”.

4. Flawé: How can Rio de Janeiro become the world capital of philosophy?

JYB:    Philosophy was symbolically born in Athens, where Socrates walked through the agora asking ti esti , “what is this?”. Other cities became centers of certain sciences or arts, but contemporary philosophy does not have an unequivocal world capital: a place that regularly brings together researchers from all continents around a common philosophical question. Rio de Janeiro can occupy that space—not by decree, but through the progressive creation of a tradition.

The city offers exceptional conditions. It is internationally renowned, boasts extensive hotel and cultural infrastructure, a landscape where sea, mountains, forest, and urban life coexist in a unique way, and a long history of hosting large events. Compared to many metropolises in the northern hemisphere, it also offers relatively affordable accommodation, food, and transportation options, an essential aspect for a congress that aims to welcome researchers from countries with vastly different resources.

More importantly, Rio and its metropolitan area have a large and diverse philosophical community. UFRJ, UERJ, PUC-Rio, and UNIRIO maintain regular activities in the city; UFF and UFRRJ expand this ecosystem in the region. The Universidade Livre do Leme, with its seminar "Philosophy on the Beach", conceived by diplomat Jerônimo Moscardo, shows that philosophy can also occupy public space. The Associação Carioca de Filosofia (Rio de Janeiro Philosophy Association) was created precisely to strengthen the connection between institutions, researchers, and the public.

The congress project is particularly suited to this vocation. Its central question — “What is X?” — can be understood by researchers from any tradition and applied to all branches of philosophy. Instead of juxtaposing unrelated sessions, the event seeks to respond to the growing fragmentation of the discipline through a transversal methodological core. The eleven proposed procedures — including definition, quotations , proverbs, typification, categorization, opposition, diagramming, and symbolization — allow for a convergence of conceptual rigor and methodological pluralism.

This methodology seeks to avoid two extremes. On the one hand, the simple enumeration of cases, which I call the "North Pole"; on the other, the pretension of enclosing a concept in an abstract and definitive definition, the "South Pole." The position I propose is "tropical austral" : it values ​​examples, uses, and variations, but guides the investigation toward conceptual understanding. Rio, located near the Tropic of Capricorn, is also symbolically the appropriate place for this philosophical position.

The world prize will reinforce this centrality, bringing the winners of national competitions to Rio and transforming the city into a space of convergence between languages, traditions, and generations. Philosophy needs a center of gravity not to close itself off within it, but to have a point of return: an address where global dialogue can regularly begin again.

The ambition, therefore, is concrete: to organize the World Philosophy Congress “What Is It? That's the Question!” every two or three years, always in Rio de Janeiro; to progressively expand the network of national awards; to strengthen cooperation between philosophical institutions in Rio; and to create an intellectual experience that combines rigorous research, cultural openness, and public participation. If this continuity is ensured, Rio could become, in the 21st century, the world capital of philosophy, a city to which philosophers from around the world return to ask, together, “What is it?”.