Ricardo Forster (born 26 September 1957) is an Argentine philosopher,

historian of ideas Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual histor ...

and political critic. He is professor and researcher at

Universidad de Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...

and

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. He is also member of the

editorial board The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take. Mass media At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, ...

of '' Pensamiento de los Confines'' magazine. Along with

Horacio Verbitsky Horacio Verbitsky (born February 11, 1942) is an Argentine investigative journalist and author with a history as a leftist guerrilla in the Montoneros. In the early 1990s, he reported on a series corruption scandals in the administration of Pre ...

, Nicolás Casullo and others created Espacio Carta Abierta ("''

Open Letter An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...

Spot''"), a propagandistic group in defense of the Kirchner government, in 2008, after an attempt to raise taxes on agricultural exports led to large street protests. He also had a small incursion in television as presenter of "Grandes pensadores del siglo XX" ("''Greatest thinkers of 20th-century''") in

Encuentro Encuentro ( en, "Encounter") is an Argentine television channel owned and operated by the Argentine Ministry of Education. It began broadcasting in 2007 through cable television operators in the country. It airs as an independent channel and al ...

, in years 2009–2010. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, he ran for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies. He was fourth on the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory ( es, Frente para la Victoria, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner we ...

list, which came in third place with less than 22% of the vote, not enough for Forster to be elected. In June 2014, the position of "Secretary of Strategic Coordination of National Thought" was created by the Kirchner administration and Forster was named its first office holder. The Secretary was given the task to "design, coordinate and instrument a factory of National Thought" and its creation and Forster's naming were criticised by the opposition but applauded by Carta Abierta. Forster is also an essayist and writer. In his works he develops his thinking on diverse subjects, which include

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, ...

, nihilism, the entire concept of essay (topic of his doctoral dissertation), and

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

s in general.

Selected bibliography

* '' W. Benjamin – Th. W. Adorno, el ensayo como filosofía''. Buenos Aires: Nueva Visión, 1991. * ''Itinerarios de la Modernidad'' (junto a Nicolás Casullo y Alejandro Kaufman). Buenos Aires: Eudeba, 1996. * ''El exilio de la palabra. Ensayos en torno a lo judío''. Buenos Aires: Lom, 1997. * ''Walter Benjamin y el problema del mal''. Buenos Aires: Altamira, 2003. * ''Crítica y sospecha. Los claroscuros de la cultura moderna''. Buenos Aires: Paidós, 2003. * ''Mesianismo, nihilismo y redención'' (junto a Diego Tatián). Buenos Aires: Altamira, 2005. * ''Notas sobre la barbarie y la esperanza. Del 11 de septiembre a la crisis argentina''. Buenos Aires: Biblos, 2006. * ''El laberinto de las voces argentinas. Ensayos políticos''. Buenos Aires: Colihue, 2008. * ''Los hermeneutas de la noche. De Walter Benjamin a Paul Celan''. Buenos Aires: Trotta, 2009. * ''Benjamin. Una introducción''. Buenos Aires: Quadrata/Biblioteca Nacional, 2009. * ''La anomalía Argentina''. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 2010. * ''La muerte del héro''e. Buenos Aires: Ariel, 2011. * ''El litigio por la democracia''. Buenos Aires: Planeta, 2011.

References

External links

La guerra, Israel y ser judío

YOK ENTREVISTA – Ricardo Forster (parte 1)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Ricardo 1957 births Argentine essayists Male essayists Argentine male novelists Argentine educators Argentine philosophers Kirchnerism Living people Jewish Argentine politicians Jewish Argentine writers Historians of philosophy Political philosophers Members of Carta Abierta