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

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

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 A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole. Cultural criticism has significant overlap with social and cultural theory. While such criticism is simply part of the self-consciousness of the culture, the social positions o ...

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

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

on the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM).

Life and work

At a young age, his family moved to

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. In this city, he studied first at Lasalle School and in 1955 his father transferred him to the

Instituto Nacional Mejía Instituto Nacional Mejía is a public secondary educational institution of Quito. It was founded on June 1, 1897 by Eloy Alfaro, Eloy Alfaro Delgado, then president of Ecuador. History Eloy Alfaro and the founding of the Instituto Nacional Me ...

, where his intellectual and political activity began. Afterwards, Echeverría moved to Germany to study at

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

and then to Mexico to continue with his studies at the

. He participated on the

German student movement The West German student movement (), sometimes called the 1968 movement in West Germany (), was a left-wing social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968. Participants in the movement later came to be known as ...

in the late 1960s, establishing friendship and long-lasting collaboration with its leaders, including

Rudi Dutschke Alfred Willi Rudolf Dutschke (; 7 March 1940 – 24 December 1979) was a German sociologist and political activist who, until severely injured by an assassin in 1968, was a leading charismatic figure within the Socialist Students Union (SDS) in ...

. In 1970, he started permanent residence in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, where he lived as a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, also continuing his studies on

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

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

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

Das Kapital ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' (), also known as ''Capital'' or (), is the most significant work by Karl Marx and the cornerstone of Marxian economics, published in three volumes in 1867, 1885, and 1894. The culmination of his ...

, 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 (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

, 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 The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...

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 Ontology is the philosophical study of being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of reality and every ...

problems of

existentialism Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and valu ...

, especially in

Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French ph ...

and

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art, and language. In April ...

; Marxian critique of political economy, focusing on the contradiction between

Use value Use value () 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 which serves a usef ...

and

Exchange value In political economy and especially Marxian economics, exchange value () 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 being use value, econo ...

; and a contemporary development of

critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...

and the

Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School is a school of thought in sociology and critical theory. It is associated with the University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, Institute for Social Research founded in 1923 at the University of Frankfurt am Main ...

, including cultural and historical phenomena of

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. From this standpoint, Echeverría formulated a rigorous critique of

postmodernity Postmodernity (post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist ''after'' modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century – in th ...

, 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 Society, socio-Culture, cultural Norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of 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 is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

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
/ref>

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.) ** Paperback edition: Chicago, Haymarket Books, 2016. 467 pages. . *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 20th-century Mexican philosophers 21st-century Mexican philosophers Critical theorists Mexican economists Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico