The CIPSH is a non-governmental organisation within UNESCO, which federates hundreds of different learned societies in the field of philosophy, human sciences and related subjects.

The CIPSH coordinates the international works and researches carried out by a huge constellation of centres and networks of scholars. It favours the exchange of knowledge among faraway scholars and fosters the international circulation of scholars, in order to improve the communication among specialists from different disciplines, enforce a better knowledge of cultures and of the different social, individual and collective behaviours and bring to the fore the richness of each culture and their fruitful diversity.

The International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies was founded on the 18th of January, 1949, in Brussels, at the request of UNESCO and under its auspices, following a meeting organized by the Union Académique Internationale to bring together representatives of nongovernmental organizations. From January 1, 2011, it adopted the designation “International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences”.