On the 23^rd of August 2008, Professor Andrei Pleşu has marked his sixtieth birthday. In view of his distinguished service to the public welfare and his manifold contributions to academic life, the editors of this volume have invited a number of Romanian and international scholars to celebrate this event with a Festschrift. Colleagues, friends, and former students of Andrei Pleşu joined together to offer a critical appreciation of his understanding of culture in today’s world. The participants in this volume explore the continuing debates around the place of philosophy, politics, aesthetics, ethics, and religion in shaping the identity of Western civilization.

 “…Andrei Pleşu, dieser Spezialist für Zwischentöne  und Zwischenwesen, dieser Möglichkeitsmensch mit ausgeprägtem Wirklichkeitssinn…”

Wolf LEPENIES

 “Andrei Pleşu: a vast character, with multiple resources, endowed with a velvet aloofness and amiably outclassing all the rest, effortlessly achieving high performance and bril­liance in everything he happens to do, modulating within any human register (devastating in derision and adorable in banter), capable of adapting to any setting, distant and engaged, drawn to monastic rigors and voluptuously melting in the vanities of the world…”

Gabriel LIICEANU

Contributors to this volume include:

Moshe Idel ▪ Vladimir Tismăneanu ▪ Gábor Klaniczay ▪  Jad Hatem ▪ Russell Reno ▪ Natale Spineto ▪ Anca Vasiliu ▪ István Rév ▪ Anca Oroveanu