International Society for Philosophical Inquiry

ISPE was founded by Dr. Christopher Harding, a psychometrics expert based in Queensland, Australia . In the 1966 edition of the Guinness Book of Records, Dr. Harding is listed as "The Smartest Man in the World." The company is organized by voluntarily elected and appointed employees in accordance with its Charter. ^[one]

ISPE's motto is “Quaere Vērum”, which means “seek the truth.” ISPE as an organization does not adhere to any formal political beliefs or affiliations. Its goals are focused on the development of intelligence to improve society, and on providing a forum for discussions and exchanges in order to promote the intellectual development of its members.

The company publishes the quarterly Telicom magazine (ISSN 1087-6456). This name comes from “telic” (direction towards a principle or goal) and “communication”. The magazine publishes original works of art, poetry and articles "of interest to a wide segment of the membership." In particular, controversial issues causing lively discussion are welcome.

Admission to society is limited to people in the upper 0.1% (99.9th percentile ) ^[2] cognitive abilities measured by approved intelligence tests. ISPE is unofficially known as The Thousand, being the first (and short-lived) name of the company in 1974, because statistically only one person in a thousand (3.09 standard deviations above the average in the normal distribution ) has mental abilities that meet the criteria for admission. This corresponds to a score of 149 for IQ tests with a standard deviation of 16, such as the Stanford-Binet test , or 146 for tests with a standard deviation of 15, such as, for example, the Wexler test .

Society is democratically governed by a vote of Full Members and above.

Field of Activity

In 1981, the Guinness Book of Records ( ISBN 0-8069-0198-5 ) stated that the ISPE consists of "239 members, of which all have an average IQ of 160, no one has lower than 148, and some have higher than 196." (p. 35). Another reference appears in the 1993 edition.

In April 2006, membership reached 583 members from 29 countries, although most (81.65%) lived in the United States in 45 states and the District of Columbia.

These 29 countries are Australia , Belgium , Canada , China (Hong Kong SAR), Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Hungary , India , Ireland , Israel , Italy , Japan , South Korea, Mexico , the Netherlands , Norway , Russia , Serbia , Singapore , Slovakia , South Africa , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , Great Britain and the USA . ^[3]

Membership Levels

ISPE has a special promotion system designed to encourage members to use their abilities for the benefit of humanity. There are six common membership levels: ^[1]

• Associate Member (66.7% of the total)
• Member (14.1%)
• Fellow (Employee) (7.4%)
• Senior Fellow (Senior Employee) (4.6%)
• Senior Research Fellow (Senior Research Fellow) (3.3%)
• Diplomate (Diplomat) (2.7%).

There is also the seventh, special, “Philosopher” level (0.5%).

New members join the associate member level and receive voting privileges to advance to membership status. The first six levels can be achieved by demonstrating the various achievements that put into practice the goals of society. The level of the Diplomat requires approval from the majority of members when voting on the promotion of the nominated candidate. The philosopher, the highest level, is rare and can only be achieved by appointment. ^[one]

In addition, respected people outside the community can receive the status of Mentors (0.7%) and honorary members. ^[1] Paul R. Erlich became an honorary member in 1991.

Famous Members

• Sandrine Erdeli-Sayo

The ISPE Charter ^[1] lists nine ISPE objectives:

• Encourage written communication between members with similar interests and levels of mental ability, in order to exchange thoughts, ideas and discoveries. To nurture the inherent curiosity of our members with thoughtful research and reasoning, expanding their horizons of knowledge and wisdom.
• Encourage the personal achievements of members in the provision of services to society and contributions to humanity as a whole.
• Provide a channel for individual initiative and give members the opportunity to advance in society and become employees in executive or managerial positions in which they can benefit society while enriching their own experience.
• Offer an opportunity for members holding senior positions outside the community to help promote the potential of other members.
• Continue to expand the membership of the society by encouraging members to search for and offer to join the society of potential members by testing their abilities, thereby increasing their composition of capable people and expanding the horizons of all of them.
• Gather a natural resource of talent and ability and help our members achieve the success and recognition that they can earn.
• Provide consulting services in the form of correspondence for members who may need them in their education , current profession and life work. Provide guidance and advice from more experienced members to other members who may benefit from this knowledge.
• To unite all members and strengthen their relations through the monthly Telicom magazine, which will keep them updated on the activities of society and which can benefit them by sharing experience with other members. The contribution of the material and biographical or autobiographical sketches of the members who deserve to be promoted in the community, or who have made some outstanding contributions within or outside the community, will be sought and published for edification and stimulation of ideas among other members.
• Expand our potentials through health and longevity.

• Intelligence quotient
• Giftedness
• Mensah
• Triple Nine Society
• Mega Society

• Philip J. Carter, Christopher P. Harding and Marcel Feenstra, The Ultimate IQ Challenge , Ward Lock Limited, August 1994, 128 pages, ISBN 0-7063-7232-8 . (The book contains an ISPE vocabulary test “A”, with answers and corresponding percentiles.)
• Lorraine M Dahlstrom, Writing Down the Days: 365 Creative Journaling Ideas for Young People , Free Spirit Publishing, 1990, page 112, ISBN 0-915793-19-9 .
• Robert Famighetti, The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000: Millennium Collector's Edition , St. Martin's Press, 2000, page 289, ISBN 0-88687-847-0 . (Here, ISPE is referred to in the Associations and Societies section.)
• Marcel Feenstra, Philip J. Carter, and Christopher P. Harding, The Ultimate IQ Book , Ward Lock Limited, September 1993, 128 pages, ISBN 0-7063-7148-8 . (The book contains the ISPE Vocabulary Test “B”, with answers and corresponding percentiles.)
• Ida Fleiß, Hochbegabung und Hochbegabte. Mit Berichten Betroffener , Tectum Verlag, 2003, pages 42–43, ISBN 3-8288-8452-0 .
• Richard A. Kapnick and Aidan A. Kelly (Eds.), Thinking on the Edge: Essays by Members of the International Society for Philosophical Inquiry , Agamemnon Press, June 1993, 410 pages, ISBN 1-883322-00-6 .
• Norris McWhirter, Guinness Book of World Records , Sterling Publishing Company, 1981, page 35, ISBN 0-8069-0198-5 .
• Norris McWhirter, The Guinness Book of Records , Bantam Books, 1993, page 386, ISBN 0-553-56257-6 .
• JC Oleson, Sipping Coffee with a Serial Killer: On Conducting Life History Interviews with a Criminal Genius , The Qualitative Report 9 (2), June 2004, 192-215. ISSN 1052-0147. (Some ISPE members completed the questionnaire for this study as a control group.)
• Warren Oskey, Spiritual Awareness: Pathway to Enlightenment , Xlibris Corporation, 2000, page 377, ISBN 0-7388-1263-3 .
• Daniel Price, Slick: A Novel , Villard, August 2004, 464 pages, ISBN 1-4000-6234-9 . (Chapter 7 mentions ISPE.)

• ISPE Website