Fernando Fernández-Savater Martín (born 21 June 1947 at Basque city of San Sebastián) is a Spanish

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, essayist and author.

Early years and career

Born in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

, he was an Ethics professor at the University of the Basque Country for over a decade. Presently he is a

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

professor at the Complutense University of Madrid. He has won several accolades for his literary work, which covers issues as diverse as contemporary ethics, politics, cinema and literary studies. In 1990, Savater and columnist and publisher,

Javier Pradera Francisco Javier Pradera Gortázar (28 April 1934 – 20 November 2011) was a Spanish anti-Franco activist, journalist, political analyst and publisher. Pradera was a journalist and columnist for ''El País'', based in Madrid. Pradera worked a ...

, founded the magazine, ''Claves de Razón Práctica''. In November 2012 he was awarded the prestigious Octavio Paz Prize of Poetry and Essay. In that same year 2012, with issue number 222 (May-June 2012), he became Editor in Chief of "Claves de razón práctica" ( Spanish for "Keys for Practical Reason"), a critical thought and cultural crusading review founded by

in 1990, thus giving start to a second era of this prestigious publication, with an editorial board composed of Basilio Baltasar, Francisco Calvo Serraller, Joaquín Estefanía, Carlos García Gual,

Santos Juliá Santos Juliá Díaz (16 September 1940 – 23 October 2019) was a Spanish historian and sociologist. Biography Born in Ferrol in 1940, he spent some of his first years in Vigo, moving soon to Seville, where he studied at the ''Instituto San Is ...

and José María Ridao.

Political activism

Savater founded a political party currently disbanded called ''Unión, progreso y democracia'' (Spanish for Union, Progress and Democracy and often shortened as UPyD) with former socialists MP Rosa Díez,

Albert Boadella Albert Boadella Oncins (born 30 July 1943, in Barcelona) is a Spanish actor, playwright, director until 2012 of the company of the independent theater Els Joglars. Biography He studied dramatic art at the Institut del Teatre of Barcelona, at ...

and

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ...

in order to oppose different nationalist movements in Spanish mainstream politics. Critics have pointed out that their political outlook seems to be dominated by a strong

Spanish nationalist The creation of the tradition of the political community of Spaniards as common destiny over other communities has been argued to trace back to the Cortes of Cádiz. Revisiting the history of Spain, after 1812 Spanish liberalism tended to take fo ...

ideology itself. Savater was one of the intellectuals and politicians who endorsed the 2012 manifesto of the "reconversion.es" platform vouching for a recentralization of the country, and considered a precursor of the far-right Vox. In 2018, Savater adhered to the manifesto ''Manifiesto por la historia y la libertad'' promoted by

Francisco Franco National Foundation The Francisco Franco National Foundation ( es, Fundación Nacional Francisco Franco, links=no; FNFF) is a foundation and propaganda hub created in 1976 devoted to promoting the legacy of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The only child of Fra ...

, decrying the

Law of Historical Memory Law 52/2007 That recognises and broadens the rights and establishes measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the Civil War and the Dictatorship (in Spanish: ''Ley 52/2007 por la que se reconocen y amplían derechos ...

. He has taken an active part in several organizations engaged with peace in the Basque Country and against terrorism and Basque nationalism, such as ''Movimiento por la Paz y la No Violencia'', ''Gesto por la Paz'', ''

Foro Ermua The ''Foro Ermua'' ( en, Ermua Forum) was a Spanish civic association, the membership of which was composed of Spanish citizens (most of them living in the Basque Country). It was founded on 13 January 1998; its last president was Mikel Buesa. T ...

'', and currently ''

¡Basta Ya! ''¡Basta Ya!'' ( en, Enough is Enough!) was a Spanish grassroots organization uniting individuals of various political positions against terrorism and violence, notably ETA, and against the proposal for a new Statute of Autonomy of the Basque C ...

Personal life

Savater is also known as a philosophy popularizer, TV host, lecturer and for his political activism. He defines himself as an

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

, an anglophile and a defender of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

in the Voltaire tradition.

Bibliography

*''Nihilismo y acción'' (''Nihilism and Action'') (1970) *''Ensayo sobre Cioran'' (''Essay on Cioran'') (1974) *''Panfleto contra el Todo'' (''A Proclamation against Everything'') (1978) *''Criaturas del aire'' (1979); *''Caronte aguarda'' (''Charon Awaits'') (1981) *''La tarea del héroe'' (''The Task of the Hero'') (1981) *''Invitación a la ética'' (''An Invitation to Ethics'') (1982) *''La infancia recuperada'' (''Childhood Recovered'') (1983) *''Sobre vivir'' (''On Living -and Surviving'') (1983) *''Las razones del antimilitarismo y otras razones'' (''The Reasons for Antimilitarism and Other Reasons'') (1984) *''El contenido de la felicidad'' (''The Contents of Happiness'') (1986) *''Ética como amor propio'' (''Ethics as Self-Esteem'') (1988) *''Ética para Amador'' (''Ethics for Amador'') (1991) *''Política para Amador'' (''Politics for Amador'') (1992) *''Sin contemplaciones'' (''Straight Talk'') (1993) *''Despierta y lee'' (''Wake Up and Read'') (1998) *''Las preguntas de la vida'' (''The Questions of Life'') (1999) *''Perdonen las molestias'' (''Sorry for Disturbing'') (2001) *''El Gran Laberinto'' (''The Great Labyrinth'') (2005) *''Ética de Urgencia'' (''Importunate Ethics'') (2012)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Savater, Fernando 1947 births Living people People from San Sebastián 20th-century Spanish philosophers 21st-century Spanish philosophers Spanish agnostics Complutense University of Madrid Recipients of the Order of Constitutional Merit University of the Basque Country faculty Spanish social liberals Spanish schoolteachers Philosophy writers Spanish ethicists Male essayists Philosophers of education