国际哲学奥林匹克（IPO）是一项面向全世界中学生的哲学竞赛，由联合国教科文组织（UNESCO）支持管理，国际哲学团体联合会（FISP）主办，是国际科学奥林匹克的一项赛事。
该赛事设立于1993年，已举办25届，大多在欧洲国家举办，亚洲国家只有日本和韩国做过主办国。参赛成绩比较好的也多是欧洲国家，但近年来亚洲国家也开始取得好成绩。
赛事规定，参赛国家各派出两名学生（高中学生）参赛，主办国可以派出十名。竞赛时间一般为4至5天。比赛拟4个题目，参赛者从中选一，在4小时内以英文、法文、德文或西班牙文作论文一篇，但不能是其母语或其国家的官方语言。论文由随队导师和国际哲学团体联合会的代表共同评核。比赛设有金奖、银奖、铜奖、优异奖。
历届试题（1993-2009）
2009 (Finland)
I. “If, then, there is some end of the things we do, which we desire for its own sake (everything else being desired for the sake of this), and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else (for at that rate the process would go on to infinity, so that our desire would be empty and vain), clearly this must be the good and the chief good.”
(Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics)
I.“那么，如果我们所做的事有某种目的，而我们只为了这目的本身而期望达到这个目的（我们所期望的所有其他都是为了这个目的）；如果我们选择一样东西，我们的选择是为了这个东西本身，而不是其他别的什么（如果是为了其他别的什么，那么，这个过程就会无限延续，我们欲望就会变得空虚、无结果），显然，这肯 定是善，最高的善。”（亚里士多德，《尼各马可伦理学》）
II. In accordance with reason there is only one way that states in relation with one another can leave the lawless condition, which involves nothing but war; it is that, like individual human beings, they give up their savage (lawless) freedom, accommodate themselves to public coercive laws, and so form an (always growing) state of nations (civitas gentium) that would finaly encompass all the nations of the earth.
(Immanuel Kant, Toward Perpetual Peace)
II.“依照理性，只有一种办法能使相互关联的城邦出离这种无法无天的状态，这种状态只会导致战争；这办法就是：像人类个体一样，这些城邦放弃他们野蛮未开化（无法无天）的自由，使它们自己适应于大家共同遵守的、强制性的律法；由此形成一种（总在增长的）诸多国家共存的状态，这种状态最终将会囊括世界上所 有的国家。”（康德，《永久和平论》）
III. Must a work of art be beautiful in order to be a work of art, or many a work of art be ugly as well? If the later is possible, why should we take interest in it?
III.要成为艺术品，一件艺术品必须是美的吗？或者说，一件艺术品可不可以也是丑的？如果第二种情况是可能的，为什么我们要对这样一件艺术品感兴趣？
IV. It is not just the existence of God, but rather the very coherence of the idea of God, that is problematic.
IV.不仅上帝的存在令人生疑，而且有关上帝的理念如此紧致连贯也令人生疑。
2008
身份和身体是同一的吗？
在民主体制中，人们似乎可以为所欲为 -- 这是真的；但政治自由根本不在于为所欲为。（孟德斯鸠，《论法的精神》）
没有一种势力涉及到所有人，这样的地方就没有律法；没有律法的地方，就没有不公正。（霍布斯，《利维坦》）
当其他人的行为和生活跟他所认为的正当相抵牾的时候，一个自由的人必须能容忍这种情况。他必须使自己摆脱这样一种习惯，那就是只要有什么事不让他感到快活，他就马上叫警察。（米塞斯，《古典传统中的自由主义(自由与繁荣的国度)》）
2007 (Turkey)
It follows, plainly, from the explanation given above, of the foundation of state, the ultimate aim of government is not to rule, or restrain, by fear, nor to exact obedience, but contrariwise, to free every man from fear, that he may live in all possible security; in other words, the strengthen his natural right to exist and work, without injury to himself and others.
Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise, chapter XX
从以上解释可以作出如下推论，作为国家的基础,政府治理的终极目的不是用恐惧去统治、或者限制人们，也不是强求人们服从，而是正相反，其终极目的是每个人都从恐惧中解脱，那就是说，在所有可能的方面，每个人都生活在安全中；换而言之,就是强化他生存和工作的自然权利。(斯宾诺莎，《神学政治论》)
There are two things, that fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe… – the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, Conclusion
有两样东西使我脑中充满了永远簇新的、不断增强的仰慕和敬畏... -- 我头顶的星空和我心中的道德律法。（康德，《实践理性批判》）
Topic 3.
Space is not in the subject , nor is the world in space.
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
空间不是主体，存在于空间中的世界也不是主体。（海德格尔,《存在与时间》）
Topic 4.
And for this reason justice is regarded as the highest of all virtues,… and as the proverb has it, “In justice every virtue is summed up.” It is complete virtue and excellence in the fullest sense, because it is the practise of complete virtue. It is complete because he who possesses it can make use of his virtue not only by himself but also in his relations with his fellow men.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
因此，公正被看作是所有德行中最高的，....就像那句格言所说，“在公正中，所有美德都被总和起来了。”它是完满的德行和极致的卓越，因为它是完满德行的实际运用。它是完满的，因为拥有它的人不但能够自己运用他的德行，而且能在他与其他人的关系中运用它。（亚里士多德，《尼各马可伦理学》）
2006 (Italy)
For a large classes of cases – though not for all – in which we employ the word “meaning” it can be defined thus: the meaning of a word is its use in the language.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
在很多情况下 -- 虽然不是在所有情况下 -- 我们所使用的“意义”一词可以这样定义:一个词的意义是它在语言中的用法。(维特根斯坦)
To know a thing we must love it, and to love a thing we must know it.
Kitaro Nishida
要了解一样东西,我们必须爱它；要爱一样东西，我们必须了解它。（西田几多郎）
哲学家们只是用不同的方式解释世界，问题在于改变世界。(马克思)
简而言之，人的行为从来不是自由的；它们总是他的脾性所导致的必然结果、他所接受的观点导致的必然结果;也是那些或真或伪的概念导致的必然结果 -- 他依仗这些概念来理解快乐;也是他所持有的意见导致的必然结果，这些意见被榜样、教育、日常经验所强化。(霍尔巴赫)
2005 (Poland)
If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope l should have the guts to betray my country.
E.M.Forste
如果我必须在背叛我的国家和背叛朋友之间做选择,我希望我该拥有背叛我的国家的勇气。(爱德华·摩根·福斯特）
Today, the truth is dispersed across many universes of discourse which can no longer be arranged in a hierarchy. However, in each of these discourses, we search tenaciously for insights that can convince all.”
Jürgen Habermas
当今,真理分散在很多话语体系中，这些话语体系不再能被安排成一种高下的等级关系。然而，在任何一个这样的话语中，我们都在顽强地寻找能够说服所有人的卓识和洞见。(尤尔根·哈贝马斯）
Hedonism, pessimism, utilitarism, eudemonism – all these systems that measure the value of things taking into account the pleasure or pain that go along with them, that is to say, according to any non-core condition or facts, arę seen as if they do not go in depth and being naive. Any man with his constructive faculty in place and a conscience of an artist, can only regard this with irony and pity from a distance.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
享乐主义、悲观主义、实用主义、快乐说 -- 在估量事物价值的时候,这些体系都考虑到伴随这些事物而来的快感或痛感，那就是说,这些体系所依照的是所有那些非核心的条件或事实，[由此]它们被看做不够深刻、天真幼稚。任何具有建设性的心智情感的人，任何具有艺术家良知的人,都只能带着反讽和悲悯，在一定 距离之外来看这种现象。(尼采)
Language is a labyrinth of paths. You approach from one side and know your way about; you approach the same place from another side and no longer know your way about’.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
语言是一个诸多路径的迷宫。从一个方向来，你知道路；从另一个方向来到同一个地方,你就不再知道路了。(维特根斯坦)
2004 (South Korea)
The decisive argument which is employed by common sense against freedom consists in reminding us of our impotence. Far from being able to modify our situation at our whim, we seem to be unable to change ourselves. I am not “free” either to escape the lot of my class, of my nation, of my family, or even to build up my own power or my fortune or to conquer my most insignificant appetites or habits.
Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness
常识所用来反对自由的一个重要观点在于它提醒我们一无所能。我们做不到随心所欲地改变我们的境况;正相反,我们似乎连我们自己都没有能力改变。我不是自由 的 -- 连逃脱我的阶级、国家、家庭对我的命定，我都不是自由的;积攒我自己的力量或运道,我也不是自由的;克服最微不足道的口腹之欲或习惯,我也不是 自由的。（萨特，《存在与虚无》）
The will to truth requires critique – let us define our task in this way – the value of truth must for once, by way of experiment, be called into question …
Friedrich Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morals, 3-24
必须批判地反思对真理的希求 -- 让我们这样来定义我们所要做的:这一次，真理的价值必须经由实验而受到质疑...(尼采，《论道德的谱系》)
In fact, history does not belong to us, but we belong to history.
Hans-Georg Gadamer: Truth and Method, 1989事实上,历史不属于我们,而是我们属于历史。(汉斯-格奥尔格·伽达默尔，《真理与方法》）
Does science need philosophy?
科学需要哲学吗?
2003 (Argentina)
The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom.
Michel de Montaigne, Essais, 1595, chapitreXXII
良知的法则从习俗而来,我们虚伪地宣称它们得自于天性。（蒙田，《随笔集》）
The maxims of the philosophers on the conditions under which public peace is possible shall be consulted by states which are armed for war.
(I. Kant, Perpetual Peace)
关于公共领域的和平在哪些条件下之为可能,哲学家提出了相关定理;为从事战争而装备起来的城邦应该参照这些定理来吸取信息和得到指导。（康德，《永久和平论》）
The existence of this inclination to aggression, which we can detect in our selves and justly assume to be present in others, is the factor which disturbs our relations with our neighbour and which forces civilisation into such a high expenditure of energy. In consequence of this primary mutual hostility of human beings, civilised society is perpetually threatened with disintegration.
Freud, Civilisation and its Discontents
我们能在自己身上察觉到这种进攻性,我们有充分理由假定其他人[也]有这种进攻性；这种进攻性影响我们与邻居的关系,使人类文明别无选择,而必须付出如此 高昂的能量消耗。这种与生俱来的、人与人之间的相互敌视使文明社会无时不处在解体的威胁下。(佛洛依德，《文明及其缺憾》)
2002 (Japan)
So you would have us qualify our former notion of the just man by an addition. We then said it was just to do good to a friend and evil to an enemy, but now we are to add that it is just to benefit the friend if he is good and harm the enemy if he is bad?
Plato, Republic
那么,你想要我们对我们先前对公正的人所下的定义加一个补充。我们先前说,对朋友行善举,对敌人行恶事,这样是公正的;可是现在,我们要加上说:如果朋友是好人,对他行善举是公正的,如果敌人是坏人,对他行恶事是公正的? (柏拉图，《理想国》)
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana 1863-1952, The Life of Reason, ch.12
那些不能牢记过去的人注定会使过去重复发生。(乔治·桑塔耶拿，《理性生活》)
But to be able to say that a point is black or white, I must first know under what conditions a point is called white or black; in order to be able to say: “p” is true (or false), I must have determined under what conditions I call “p” true, and thereby determine the sense of the proposition.
L. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico Philosphicus
但是,要能够说一个点是黑色或白色,我必须首先知道在什么条件下,一个点被称作白色或黑色;为了能够说:“p”为真(或为伪),我必须确切知道在什么条件下,我称“p”为真,并由此来确定这个提议的意思。(维特根斯坦，《逻辑哲学论》)
It is another paradox, but God as the true absolute must be Satan too. Only then can God be said to be truly omniscient and omnipotent. [¡¦] The absolute God must include absolute negation within himself, and must be the God who descends into ultimate evil.
Nishida Kitaro,1870-1945, Last Writing – Nothingness and the Religious Worldview
这是又一个吊诡命题,但作为真实的绝对存在,上帝必须也是撒旦。只有这样,上帝才能被称为是真的全知全能。[...]绝对性的上帝必须在其自身中包含全然否定,必须是那个陷入终极的恶的上帝。(西田几多郎，《虚无和宗教的世界观》）
2001 (USA)
The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom [¡¦].
Michel de Montaigne: Essais. 1595, chapter XXII
良知的法则从习俗而来,我们虚伪地宣称它们得自于天性。（蒙田，《随笔集》）
If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.
K.R.Popper: The Open Society and its Enemies. Vol.I. Routledge, London 1945, p. 265
如果我们把无限制的宽容延展,使它甚至适用于那些不宽容的人;如果我们不做好准备对抗不宽容者的攻击,维护一个宽容的社会,那么,宽容者将被消灭,随之宽容也被消灭。(卡尔·波普尔，《开放社会及其敌人》)
I just had to consult myself about what I want to do, everything I feel to be good is good, everything I feel to be bad is bad¡
Rousseau
我只须问我自己我想要做什么,每样我凭感觉认为好的就是好的,每样我凭感觉认为坏的就是坏的...(卢梭)。
Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition, which is called war; and such a war as is of every man, against every man.
Hobbes, Leviathan, Ch. XIII
由此,显而易见,当没有一种势力涉及到所有人，使他们全都心存敬畏,他们就处于那种被称之为战争的状态;在这种状态中,人人彼此为敌。(霍布斯，《利维坦》)
2000 (Germany)
Time is not something which exists of itself [...]. Time is, therefore, a purely subjective condition of (human) intuition [...] and in itself, apart from the subject, it is nothing.
Immanuel Kant, Kritik der reinen Vernunft, B 49 A33 / B 51 A35
时间不是某种自足自主存在的东西[...]。因此,时间是一种属于(人类)直觉的、纯粹主观的状态 [...];离开了主体,时间什么都不是。(康德，《纯粹理性批判》)
The passing from the state of nature to civil society produces a remarkable change in man; it puts justice as a rule of conduct in the place of instinct, and gives his actions the moral quality they previously
lacked.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract
从自然状态过渡到文明社会,这个过程在人身上导致了一种重要变化;它把公正作为一种行为法则,来替代本能的位置,这赋予人的行为一种前所未有的道德性质。(卢梭，《社会契约论》)
A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress – though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known.
Bertrand Russell
从单细胞变形虫到人类这样一个过程，在哲学家眼中显然是一种进步 -- 虽然我们无法获知单细胞变形虫是否会同意这种看法。(罗素)
All men naturally desire knowledge.
Aristotle, The Metaphysics, Book I. 980a
所有人类依其本性都渴望知识。(亚里士多德，《形而上学》)
1999 (Hungary)
It is impossible to conceive anything at all in the world, or even out of it, which can be taken as good without qualification, except a good will.
Immanuel Kant
我们不可能构想出哪怕一件东西是本身为善,而不需要任何界定的。在这个世界,或者即使在这个世界之外,我们都不可能构想出哪怕一件这样的东西。只除了善意。(康德)
Desire is the essence of the human being.
Benedictus Spinoza
欲望是人之为人的本质(斯宾诺莎)
What we call ‘laws’ are hypotheses or conjectures which always form a part of some larger system of theories and which, therefore, can never be tested in isolation.
Karl R. Popper
我们所称之为“规律”的都是假设或猜测,这些假设或猜测总是某个更大的理论体系的一部分,因此,它们永远都不能孤立地被证实为真或为伪。(卡尔·波普尔)
Is knowledge power?
知识是力量吗?
1998 (Romania)
Tatsachlich haben wir zwei Arten von Moral nebeneinander: eine, die wir predigen, aber nicht praktizieren, und eine andere, die wir praktizieren, aber selten predigen.
B. Russell
Wir sehen die Welt so, wie wir sie sehen wollen.
Schopenhauer
Der Mensch wird durch die anderen geschaffen.
Montaigne
Ubrigens ist mir alles verhaert, was mich bloss belehrt, ohne meine Tatigkeit zu vermehren oder unmittelbar zu beleben.
Goethe
1997 (Poland)
1.s philosophy a science?
哲学是一种科学吗？
2. Der Kunstler laernt uns durch sein Auge in die Welt blicken.
Schopenhauer
3. Justice without force is powerless, force without justice is tyrannical.
Pascal
没有强制力的公义是无能为力的；缺乏公义的强制力是暴虐的、压迫性的。（帕斯卡尔）
4. The idea that one should seek the truth for its own sake doesn’t make sense to us pragmatists. We cannot regard the truth as the aim of an investigation. The aim of an investigation is rather to come to an agreement between people about what to do and about the intended ends as well as the means, which we can realize these ends with. [...] All the descriptions we can give of things are descriptions which conform with our ends. [...] All we have to know is whether there are competing descriptions which are more useful to our purposes.
Richard Rorty: Relativism: To discover and to invent. In: Information Philosophie 1/1997, p. 14-16
为真理本身而寻求真理,这样的观点在我们实用主义者看来难以理解。我们研究一件事，其目的不能被看做是为了发现真理。相反，其目的是为了人们能达成一致 -- 关于该做什么,想要达到什么结果,以及藉什么手段达到这些结果。[...]我们能对事物作出的描述都是与我们的目的性相一致的。[...]我们 所必须知晓的只是是否存在与这种描述相抵牾的、对实现我们的目的更有用的描述。（理查德·罗蒂，《相对主义：发现与发明》）
1996 (Turkey)
Nothing is true, everything is permitted…
Nietzsche
没有什么是千真万确的，任何事情都有发生的可能。（尼采）
The evil in the world originates always from ignorance, and good will may cause as much damage as malice, if it is not enlightened.
Camus
这个世界的邪恶总是源于无知；如果不是被赋予知识和洞察力，善意可以导致与恶意所导致的等量的伤害。（加缪）
The limits of your language are the limits of your world.
Wittgenstein
你语言的界限就是你生活现实的界限。（维特根斯坦）
So act that you treat humanity in your person, as well as in the person of every other human being, also as a goal, never as a means.
Kant
那么请依此行动：把你自身的人性，以及所有其他人身上的人性作为一种目的，而永远不要作为一种手段来对待。(康德）
1995 (Bulgaria)
Everyone is someone else and no one is himself.
M. Heidegger
每个人都是一个别的、跟他自己不同的人，没有人是他自己。（海德格尔）
Actually it is impossible for us to consider ourselves non-existent.
M. Unamuno
实际上，要认为我们自己不存在是不可能的。(乌纳穆诺）
Should we start from the premise that one is totally forbidden to do injustice, or should we consider that under some circumstances that is permitted?
Plato
我们是否应该立足于这样一个前提: 无论在何种情形下，一个人都不允许做不公正的事；或者，我们是否应该认为不公正的事在某些情形下是被允许的？（柏拉图）
To be a philosopher means to travel all the time; questions in philosophy are more essential than answers.
K. Jaspers
做一个哲学家意味着无时无刻都在旅行；哲学中的问题比这些问题的答案对哲学更加不可或缺。（雅斯贝尔斯）
1994 (Bulgaria)
Der Mensch ist fur den Menschen ein “Gott”.
Spinoza
Wo ist die Zeit geblieben? Bin ich nicht in einen tiefen Brunnen gefallen? Die Welt schlaft.
Nietzsche
Wenn Beine und Arme einen eigenen Willen hatten, waren sie nicht (in der Lage der) Glieder geblieben.
Pascal
1993 (Bulgaria)
Home is far more a state of mind than landscape.
G. Bachelard
与风物景色相较，家乡更是一种心智情感状态。（巴什拉）
Children are antiquities.
G. Bachelard
孩童是历史悠久、存续至今的古物。（巴什拉）
Everything we see could be otherwise.
Wittgenstein
我们所见的每样东西都可能与我们所见的不同。（维特根斯坦）
Without “now” there wouldn’t be time and without time there wouldn’t be “now”.
Aristotle
没有“当前眼下”就不会有时间；没有时间就不会有“当前眼下”。（亚里士多德）