From 30 September to 2 October, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC) played host to the 16th International Congress of the Hispanic Society of Philosophical Anthropology, an event that, under the title Homo pictor: Art, Imagination and Creation, brought over one hundred researchers and teaching staff to the Barcelona Campus to reflect on the human capacity to imagine, represent and create. The congress, organised by UIC and SHAF with support from the Ortega y Gasset Chair (UNED), the Sicómoro Foundation and the Catalan Society of Philosophy, explored these questions from perspectives rooted in philosophy, art, literature, religious experience, health and new technologies.

The congress was built around what is a particularly relevant question in light of the rapid development of artificial intelligence: what does it mean to create, and what place do humans occupy in a world in which machines are increasingly capable of producing images and content quickly and automatically? The programme featured more than 80 papers, as well as nationally and internationally renowned experts in the fields of art, imagination and creation.

During the event, Juan Velázquez, president of the Hispanic Society of Philosophical Anthropology, highlighted the importance of reflecting on homo pictor as one who imagines, represents and creates. In this context, he pointed out that the human capacity to create and contemplate images is not merely an aesthetic matter, but one closely linked to a person’s inner freedom and imagination – the ability to distance oneself from immediate reality, imagine what is absent and express it through symbols. An ability that, from this perspective, lies at the root of technology, culture and rationality. The congress also coincided with SHAF’s 30th anniversary.

A reflection on human creation in the face of artificial intelligence

The question of what it means to create in a context shaped by artificial intelligence was addressed in the congress’s closing session. Esther Jiménez, vice-rector for Students and Sustainability at UIC, noted that advances in these technologies require us to consider what is uniquely human and which aspects should not be delegated to machines. In this regard, she raised the question of what happens to images and imagination when machines are also capable of producing them.

“To create is not simply to produce. We can produce more and more, and at an increasingly faster pace, but human creation encompasses much more than that and draws on a remarkably diverse range of perspectives,” argued the Vice-Rector, who also emphasised the importance of universities as spaces where different fields of knowledge and perspectives can interact. Against this backdrop, Esther Jiménez highlighted the role of the humanities and the Institute for Culture and Thought.

For her part, Laura Gandolfi, dean of the Faculty of Humanities, drew attention to the comprehensive nature of the congress’s programme and the opportunity it provides to explore homo pictor from a wealth of different perspectives. Reflecting on images, she explained, leads us to ask what we can learn about human beings through their creations and how these creations give form to experiences that are difficult to express in words. 

“The title Homo pictor prompts us to question what we can learn about human beings through the images they create,” Gandolfi noted. “In them are our attempts to give form to experiences that are difficult to communicate.”

UIC strengthens its ties with SHAF

Organising the congress has strengthened the collaboration between UIC and the Hispanic Society of Philosophical Anthropology. During the event, Andrea Rodríguez, director of UIC’s Institute for Culture and Thought, was invited to join the SHAF board as secretary, under President Juan Velázquez. 

Andrea Rodríguez also referred to the congress's open nature and the opportunity it provides researchers and teaching staff to come together and reflect on philosophical anthropology, as well as the presence of distinctly human qualities in the philosophical anthropology education offered to all university students by the Institute for Culture and Thought.