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 An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

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 municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the ...

, he was an

Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

professor at the

University of the Basque Country The University of the Basque Country ( eu, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, ''EHU''; es, Universidad del País Vasco, ''UPV''; UPV/EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Autonomous Community. Heir of the University of Bilbao, initiall ...

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. ...

professor at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...

. 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 Francisco Franco, anti-Franco activist, journalist, political analyst and publisher. Pradera was a journalist and columnist for ''El País'', based in Madrid. ...

, founded the magazine, ''Claves de Razón Práctica''. In November 2012 he was awarded the prestigious

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...

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 Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

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 Union, Progress and Democracy ( es, link=no, Unión, Progreso y Democracia , UPyD ) was a Spanish political party founded in September 2007 and dissolved in December 2020. It was a social-liberal party that rejected any form of nationalism, espe ...

and often shortened as UPyD) with former socialists MP

Rosa Díez Rosa María Díez González (born 27 May 1952) is a Spanish politician from Union, Progress and Democracy, UPyD deputy in the Congress of Deputies from 2008 to 2016. Career She was a former Member of the European Parliament for the Spanish S ...

, Albert Boadella 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 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 Fr ...

, 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 derecho ...

. He has taken an active part in several organizations engaged with peace in the Basque Country and against

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

and

Basque nationalism Basque nationalism ( eu, eusko abertzaletasuna ; es, nacionalismo vasco; french: nationalisme basque) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the poli ...

, 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 sufficien ...

, an anglophile and a defender of the Enlightenment in the

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—e ...

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