Bolívar Echeverría (31 January 1941 – 5 June 2010) was a

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 ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and cultural critic, born in Ecuador and later nationalized Mexican. He was professor

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

on the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

(UNAM).

Life and work

Echeverría studied in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

) and Mexico. He participated on the

German student movement The West German student movement or sometimes called the 1968 movement in West Germany was a social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968; participants in the movement would later come to be known as 68ers. T ...

in the late 1960s, establishing friendship and long-lasting collaboration with its leaders, including Rudi Dutschke. In 1970, he started permanent residence in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where he lived as a

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

, also continuing his studies on

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 ...

and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

. Later on, he developed a seminar on Marx's

Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in Historical mater ...

, which lasted six years and included intensive systematic readings of the book. Since then he became an academic of the Faculties of Philosophy and Economics on the

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

, where he founded several magazines on culture and politics, such as ''Cuadernos Políticos (Political Notebooks)'' (1974–1989); ''Palos de la Crítica (roughly translated as Sticks of the Critique)'' (1980–1981); ''Economía Política (Political Economy)'' (1976–1985) and ''Ensayos (Essays)'' (1980–1988). He was also part of the Editorial Board of magazines like ''Theoria (Theory)'' (since 1991); and '' Contrahistorias. La otra mirada de Clío'' (since 2003). His investigations where mainly (and broadly) concerned on: the ontological problems of

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

, especially in Sartre and Heidegger; Marxian critique of political economy, focusing on the contradiction between

Use value Use value (german: Gebrauchswert) or value in use is a concept in classical political economy and Marxist economics. It refers to the tangible features of a commodity (a tradeable object) which can satisfy some human requirement, want or need, or ...

and

Exchange value In political economy and especially Marxian economics, exchange value (German: ''Tauschwert'') refers to one of the four major attributes of a commodity, i.e., an item or service produced for, and sold on the market, the other three attributes be ...

; and a contemporary development of

critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...

and the

Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School (german: Frankfurter Schule) is a school of social theory and critical philosophy associated with the Institute for Social Research, at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1929. Founded in the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), dur ...

, including cultural and historical phenomena of

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. From this standpoint, Echeverría formulated a rigorous critique of postmodernity, with which he developed his theory of ''capitalist modernity'' and the baroque ''ethos'', a form of cultural resistance in

. He also wrote extensively on the fundamental contradictions of

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...

as a civilizatory process and explored the possibilities of what he called an ''alternative modernity'', in other words, a ''non-capitalist modernity''. Echeverría received several awards for his work, including: ''Premio Universidad Nacional a la Docencia'' (México, 1997), ''Premio Pio Jaramillo Alvarado'' (FLACSO-Quito, 2004) and ''Premio Libertador Simón Bolívar al Pensamiento Crítico'' (Caracas, 2006). He died in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

on June 5, 2010, of a heart attack, as a result of several blood pressure complications.Falleció Bolívar Echeverría, voz crítica de la modernidad capitalista
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Major works

* ''El discurso crítico de Marx'', México: Era, 1986. * ''Conversaciones sobre lo barroco'', México: UNAM, 1993. * ''Circulación capitalista y reproducción de la riqueza social. Apunte crítico sobre los esquemas de K. Marx'', México: UNAM / Quito: Nariz del diablo, 1994. * (comp.), ''Modernidad, mestizaje cultural y ethos barroco'', México: UNAM / El Equilibrista, 1994. * ''Las ilusiones de la modernidad'', México: UNAM / El equilibrista, 1995. * ''Valor de uso y utopía'', México: Siglo XXI, 1998. * ''La modernidad de lo barroco'', México: Era, 1998. * ''Definición de la cultura'', México: Itaca, 2001. * (comp.), ''La mirada del ángel''. Sobre el concepto de la historia de Walter Benjamin, México: Era, 2005. * ''Vuelta de siglo'', México: Era, 2006. * ''Modernidad y blanquitud'', México: Era, 2010. * ''Modernity and Whiteness'', Cambridge: Polity Press, 2019. *

Works on Bolívar Echeverría

*Stefan Gandler
''Critical Marxism in Mexico: Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez and Bolívar Echeverría''
Leiden/Boston, Brill Academic Press, 2015. 467 pages. .(Historical Materialism Book Series, ; vol. 87.) *Stefan Gandler

México, [http://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/librerias/Detalle.aspx?ctit=004294R FCE
UNAM
UAQ, 2007. *Stefan Gandler: ''Peripherer Marxismus. Kritische Theorie in Mexiko.'' Hamburg, Berlin
Argument-Verlag
1999. 459 pages, .

References

External links

Biograp Sketch
at posgrado.unam.mx
Bolívar Echeverría: Teoría crítica y filosofía de la cultura
Página personal

Interview with philosopher Bolívar Echeverría, Premio Simón Bolívar al Pensamiento Crítico 2007

Essay by Stefan Gandler {{DEFAULTSORT:Echeverria, Bolivar 1941 births 2010 deaths People from Riobamba Ecuadorian emigrants to Mexico Mexican philosophers Critical theorists Mexican economists National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty