“The purpose of all conferences is the same,” Brutian said. “To analyze the main problem of philosophy in the 21st century and to find a way to construct the philosophy of the future.”
When the academy started considering a location for its third international conference — the first was in Yerevan in 2005, followed by Athens in 2006 — Brutian, who has ties to the local Armenian community and had visited Glendale before, suggested the group host it here, Sagherian said.
“What it means to Glendale is these folks could have gone anywhere in the world or any city and here it is in Glendale, and we are honored to have these bright people,” said former Glendale Mayor Larry Zarian, who joined Mayor Ara Najarian in welcoming the conference participants Wednesday. “These are PhDs, philosophers with collaboration with Stanford University, with Russia, Argentina and all over the world, so I thought these are the kind of people that have chosen Glendale.”
The academy’s membership includes Stanford professor Patrick Suppes and UC Berkeley professor Barry Stroud, who is also co-president of the group.
Meeting all day in a small conference room at the Days Inn, participating scholars took turns at the lectern, waxing philosophical about the state of their discipline.
The bookish group was a marked contrast to many of the other noteworthy guests to Glendale, Najarian said.
“We have the Love Ride, where we bring in thousands of tattooed, mustached, bearded Harley riders,” Najarian said. “And [the conference] is perhaps reflective of the softer, more intellectual side of Glendale, as well as further displaying our diversity, not just in ethnicity and culture but in lifestyle.”
The conference will resume at 9 a.m. today at the Glendale Days Inn, 450 W. Pioneer Drive.
