The International School for Philosophy (Internationale School voor Wijsbegeerte, ISVW) is a non-profit institution and center for learning, practicing and developing philosophy and philosophical attitudes towards life and the world. Located in the heart of the Netherlands on the vast ISVW estate in the woods of Leusden, near Utrecht, the school shares its site with a hotel, conference center and publishing house. The revenue from these organizations contributes towards the financing of the philosophy courses and publications, which we can therefore offer at an affordable price. We are not dependent on public funding.
The International School for Philosophy was founded in 1916. Our founders envisaged a place where leading thinkers would gather to discuss cultural progress. Ever since, it has functioned as a centre for philosophy. Since its establishment in 1916 the ISVW has played a large role in Dutch philosophy and various international speakers have given guest lectures on the estate. These include the Bengal poet Rabindranath Tagore, the British linguistics philosopher Sir Alfred Ayer and the French thinker Emmanuel Levinas. In recent years the ISVW was visited by, among others, the American philosophers Martha Nussbaum, Francis Fukuyama and Patricia Churchland, the German thinkers Rüdiger Safranski and Peter Sloterdijk, the Australian philosopher Peter Singer, the Canadian political thinker Will Kymlicka, the Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal, and the Albanian philosopher Lea Ypi.
The school organizes a variety of philosophical courses, trainings and events on our estate, preferably over the course of multiple days. The courses we typically offer are philosophy weeks and summer schools, philosophy weekends, elementary courses, training courses and sessions for professionals. For our English-speaking audience we offer the annual Frederik van Eeden Lecture, when we host a prominent international philosopher. Our most recnt gurest our guest was the Glenn Albrecht. Click here to read more about the Frederik van Eeden Lecture. Another class that can be followed in English is the online Ubuntu MOOC course. Ubuntu MOOC is the online course dedicated to collectively building an inclusive and sustainable world. Click here to read more about it.
The ISVW also houses a publishing house: ISVW Uitgevers. ISVW Uitgevers specializes in philosophy, but offers other non-fiction titles as well. Recently we started publishing English books too; click here to take a look at them.