PHILOSOPHY Professor Alfredo Co, affectionately called the “Venerable Master” in the Faculty of Arts and Letters, will be conferred the title Professor Emeritus in a solemn ceremony on Thursday, March 9, at the UST Medicine Auditorium.
Co, who has taught for over 40 years in the University, is a sought-after scholar and speaker on the East-West dialogue in philosophy.
Co, 67, has authored several books on philosophy and is the editor in chief of Karunungan: A Journal of Philosophy, the official journal of the Philippine Academy of Philosophical Research.
He is the president of the Philippine Academy of Philosophical Research, and a member of international philosophy groups like Académie du Midi, Asian Association of Christian Philosophers, International Society for Chinese Philosophy, American Philosophical Association, International Academic Advisory Board of the Institute of Spirituality in Asia, Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie and Conférence Mondiale des Institutions Universitaires Catholiques de Philosophie.
Co was chairman of the UST Department of Philosophy from 2010 to 2011 and the Department of Social Sciences from 2000 to 2001.
He was named member of the technical committee for philosophy and co-chairman of the technical panel for humanities education of the Commission on Higher Education.
His previous awards include The Outstanding Thomasian Alumni Award (2012), Gawad San Alberto for Outstanding Research (1998, 2004 and 2011), the St. Thomas Aquinas Professorial Chair for the Humanities (2003-2004), and fellowship at the Pacific Cultural Foundation of Taiwan and International Society for Intercultural Studies and Research in Calcutta, India.
In 2010, Co was given the rare “festschrift” by UST, a testament to his quality of scholarship and passion for the study of philosophy.
Co obtained his doctorate in philosophy from UST in 1976. He obtained his post-doctorate degrees on classical Chinese philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and comparative philosophy at the Université de Paris III and Université de Paris IV.
