International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences
Encyclopedia
The International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS) was a series of scientific conferences sponsored by the International Cultural Foundation, an organization founded by Sun Myung Moon
, the founder and leader of the Unification Church
. The first conference, held in 1972, had 20 participants; while the largest conference, in Seoul
, South Korea
in 1982, had 808 participants from over 100 countries.
Participants in one or more of the conferences included Nobel laureates John Eccles
(Physiology or Medicine 1963, who chaired the 1976 conference),
Eugene Wigner (Physics 1963), economist and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek
, and Holocaust theologian
Richard Rubenstein
,
Moon believes that religion alone can not save the world, and his particular belief in the importance of the unity of science and religion was reportedly a motivation for the founding of the ICUS. American news media have suggested that the conferences were an attempt to improve the often controversial Unification Church's public image.
Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...
, the founder and leader of the Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
. The first conference, held in 1972, had 20 participants; while the largest conference, in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
in 1982, had 808 participants from over 100 countries.
Participants in one or more of the conferences included Nobel laureates John Eccles
John Carew Eccles
John Carew Eccles, AC FRS FRACP FRSNZ FAAS was an Australian neurophysiologist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synapse. He shared the prize with Andrew Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin....
(Physiology or Medicine 1963, who chaired the 1976 conference),
Eugene Wigner (Physics 1963), economist and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...
, and Holocaust theologian
Holocaust theology
Holocaust theology refers to a body of theological and philosophical debate and reflection, and related literature, primarily within Judaism, that attempts to come to grips with various conflicting views about the role of God in the universe and the human world in light of the Holocaust of the late...
Richard Rubenstein
Richard Rubenstein
Richard Lowell Rubenstein is an educator in religion and a major writer in the American Jewish community, noted particularly for his contributions to Holocaust theology...
,
Moon believes that religion alone can not save the world, and his particular belief in the importance of the unity of science and religion was reportedly a motivation for the founding of the ICUS. American news media have suggested that the conferences were an attempt to improve the often controversial Unification Church's public image.