Nicolás Gómez Dávila (18 May 1913 – 17 May 1994) was a Colombian

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 ...

and

aphorist An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by trad ...

sometimes referred to as "

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...

from the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

." For a long time not appearing particularly interested in a mass propagation of his work, Gómez Dávila remained an obscure figure until the final few years of his life, when translations attracted important attention, mainly in German-speaking countries. He was one of the most radical critics 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 ...

whose work consists almost entirely of

aphorism An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...

s which he called "''escolios''" ("

scholia Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...

" or "glosses").

Biography

Gómez Dávila was a Colombian scholar who spent most of his life in the circle of his friends and within the confines of his library. He belonged to the upper circles of Colombian society and was educated in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Due to severe

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, he spent about two years at home where he was taught by private teachers and developed a lifelong love of

classical literature Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

. He never, however, attended a university. In the 1930s he went back from Paris to Colombia, never to visit Europe again, except for a six-month stay with his wife in 1948. He built up an immense library containing more than 30,000 volumes around which his literary existence centred. In 1948 he helped found the University of the Andes in Bogotá. In 1954, Gómez Dávila's first volume of works was published by his brother, a compilation of notes and aphorisms under the title ''Notas I'' – the second volume of which never appeared. The book remained virtually unknown because only 100 copies were printed and these were presented as gifts to his friends. In 1959, he followed this with a small book of essays under the title of ''Textos I'' (again, no second volume was published). These essays develop basic concepts of his philosophical anthropology as well as his philosophy of history, often in literary language full of metaphors. After the collapse of the military dictatorship in 1958, Gómez Dávila was offered the post of chief advisor to the state president which he rejected as he did with respect to later offers, in 1974, to become ambassador in London. Though he supported the later president Alberto Lleras Camargo's role in bringing down the dictatorship, he refrained from any political activity himself, a decision he had already reached early on in his practice as a writer. From this decision resulted his strong criticism not only of left-wing but also of right-wing and conservative political practices, even though his explicitly reactionary principles show some similarities to conservative viewpoints. His skeptical anthropology was based on a close study of

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

and

Jacob Burckhardt Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (; ; 25 May 1818 – 8 August 1897) was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. His best known work is '' The Civilization of the Renaissance in ...

as well as his affirmation of hierarchical structures of order on society, state and church. Gómez Dávila emphatically criticised the concept of the sovereignty of the people as an illegitimate divinisation of man and a rejection of the sovereignty of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. He was likewise deeply critical of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

, particularly deploring the replacement of the

Ecclesiastical Latin Ecclesiastical Latin, also called Church Latin or Liturgical Latin, is a form of Latin developed to discuss Christian theology, Christian thought in Late antiquity and used in Christianity, Christian liturgy, theology, and church administration ...

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in ...

with the

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

Mass of Paul VI The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or , is the most commonly used Catholic liturgy, liturgy in the Catholic Church. It was Promulgation (Catholic canon law), promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 and its liturgical books were p ...

in the wake of the council. Similar to Juan Donoso Cortés, Gómez Dávila believed that all political errors ultimately resulted from theological errors. That is why his thought can be described as a form of

political theology Political theology is a term which has been used in discussion of the ways in which Theology, theological concepts or ways of thinking relate to politics. The term is often used to denote religious thought about political principled questions. Scho ...

. The modern ideologies such as

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

,However, he espressed a deep admiration for early liberal thinkers as

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 180516 April 1859), was a French Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, diplomat, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his works ''Democracy in America'' (appearing in t ...

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, Constant ...

and

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

, and

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, are the main targets of Gómez Dávila's criticism, because the world influenced by these ideologies appeared to him decadent and corrupt. Gómez Dávila discussed a vast range of topics,

philosophical 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

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

questions, problems of

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

, and

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

philosophy of history Philosophy of history is the philosophy, philosophical study of history and its academic discipline, discipline. The term was coined by the French philosopher Voltaire. In contemporary philosophy a distinction has developed between the ''specul ...

and the writing of history. He employed a literary method of succinct statements with a great sensibility for matters of style and tone. The literary method he developed is the gloss, the scholion, which he used to comment on the world, particularly in the five volumes of ''Escolios a un texto implícito'' (1977; 1986; 1992) that he published from the seventies to the nineties. He created "the

reactionary In politics, a reactionary is a person who favors a return to a previous state of society which they believe possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary.''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'' Third Edition, (1999) p. 729. ...

" as his unmistakable literary mask and made it into a distinctive type of thinking about the modern world as such. In his later work he attempted to define the "reactionary" with which he identified in an affirmative way by locating him somewhere beyond the traditional position of left and right. On the basis of a

Traditionalist Catholicism Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Tr ...

influenced by the intellectual probity of

and others he criticized modernity and saw himself as a partisan for a "truth that will not die". Gómez Dávila made no attempts to make his writings widely known. Only by way of German (and later Italian as well as French and Polish) translation beginning in the late eighties did Gómez Dávila's ideas begin to be read among poets and philosophers such as Robert Spaemann, Martin Mosebach, Botho Strauss, Reinhart Maurer, Rolf Schilling,

Heiner Müller Heiner Müller (; 9 January 1929 – 30 December 1995) was a German (formerly East German) dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. His "enigmatic, fragmentary pieces" are a significant contribution to postmodern drama and postd ...

Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (31 July 1909 – 26 May 1999) was an Austrian-American nobleman and polymath, whose areas of interest included philosophy, history, political science, economics, linguistics, art and theology. He oppose ...

, Franco Volpi, Asfa-Wossen Asserate and Krzysztof Urbanek.

Published works

*''Escolios a Un Texto Implicito: Obra Completa''. Nicolas Gomez Davila, Franco Volpi. July 2006. Hardcover, 408 pages. Villegas Editores. , *''Notas I'', Mexico 1954 (new edition Bogotá 2003). *''Textos I'', Bogotá 1959 (new edition Bogotá 2002). *''Escolios a un texto implícito'', 2 volumes, Bogotá 1977. *''Nuevos escolios a un texto implícito'', 2 volumes, Bogotá 1986. *''De iure'', in: Revista del Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario 81. Jg., Nr. 542 (April–June 1988), p. 67–85. *''https://www.academia.edu/34702433/De_Iure_-_Nicol%C3%A1s_G%C3%B3mez_D%C3%A1vila_Bilingual_edition_ De iure, Bilingual Edition'', translated by Tomás Molina, in: Revista del Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario Vl 3., Nr. 39 (September 2017). *''Sucesivos escolios a un texto implícito'', Santafé de Bogotá 1992 (new edition Barcelona 2002). * *''Escolios a un texto implícito. Selección'', Bogotá 2001. *''Alle origini del mondo'', edited by Antonio Lombardi, Villasanta (MB): Limina Mentis, 2013, Translation of Textos I (V) (1959). *''Scholia to an Implicit Text. Bilingual Selected Edition.'' Prologue by Till Kinzel. Villegas Editores, Bogotá 2013,

Notes

References

*AA.VV. ''Entre Fragmentos. Interpretaciones gomezdavilianas''. Alfredo Abad (Comp.) Casa de Asterión Ediciones, Pereira, 2017. *Alfredo Abad
Pensar lo Implícito. En Torno a Gómez Dávila
'. Postergraph, Pereira, 2008 *Alfredo Abad

' Gómez Dávila y las raíces gnósticas de la modernidad en Revista Ideas y Valores Universidad Nacional No. 142 Bogotá *''Nicolás Gómez Dávila Crítica e Interpretación'', e
Revista de Filosofía Paradoxa No. 14
Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, 2007. *Gutiérrez, Carlos B. (2008). "The Critique to Democracy in Nietzsche and Gómez Dávila." ''Ideas Y Valores'' 57 (136):111–125. *Hernán D. Caro:
El buen odioso – La apoteósis alemana de Nicolás Gómez Dávila
', en: Revista Arcadia, enero 2008. *Sergio Knipe: "Anthropotheism: Nicolás Gómez Dávila on Democracy", in: David J. Wingfield (ed.), ''The Initiate: Journal of Traditional Studies'', Issue One, Spring 2008. * José Miguel Oviedo: ''Breve historia del ensayo hispanoamericano'', Madrid 1981, pp. 150–151. * Reinhart Maurer: ''Reaktionäre Postmoderne – Zu Nicolás Gómez Dávila'', in: J. Albertz (ed.): ''Aufklärung und Postmoderne – 200 Jahre nach der französischen Revolution das Ende aller Aufklärung?'', Berlin 1991, pp. 139–50. *Óscar Torres Duque: ''Nicolás Gómez Dávila: la pasión del anacronismo'', in: Boletín Cultural y Bibliográfico 32, No. 40 (1995), pp. 31–49. *Tomás Molina Peláez "La modernidad democrática como religión: una lectura intertextual de Nicolás Gómez Dávila", Revista Dianóia 65 (84). 2020. *Tomás Molina Peláez. "Los epígrafes en los Escolios de Nicolás Gómez Davila: hacia una lectura intertextual". Universitas Philosophica 36 (73), 235-258. 2019. *Tomás Molina Peláez. Molina, T. "Montaigne y Burckhardt en los Escolios de Gómez Dávila: hacia una lectura intertextual". Revista Escritos 27 (58), 49-69. 2020. * Tomás Molina Peláez: "Un guide pour parcourir les stèles comminatoir parmi les décombres”. En Un coeur révolté de Nicolás Gómez Dávila. Ed. Herodios.2025. Lausana, Suiza. * Tomás Molina Peláez: “Introduction”. En Critique du droit, de la justice et de ladémocratie (Nicolás Gómez Dávila). Ed. Herodios. Lausana, Suiza. 2021. *Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda: ''Nicolás Gómez Dávila, un pensador solitario'', in: Cobo Borda: ''Desocupado lector'', Bogotá 1996, pp. 94–96. * Franco Volpi: ''Un angelo prigioniero nel tempo'', in: Nicolás Gómez Dávila: ''In margine a un testo implicito'', Milano 2001, pp. 159–83. *Till Kinzel: ''Vom Sinn des reaktionären Denkens. Zu Nicolás Gómez Dávilas Kulturkritik'', in: Philosophisches Jahrbuch 1/2002, pp. 175–85. *Till Kinzel: ''Nicolás Gómez Dávila. Parteigänger verlorener Sachen'', Schnellroda 2003, ²2005, ³2006. *Philippe Billé (ed.): ''Studia Daviliana. Études sur N. G. D.'', La Croix-Comtesse 2003. *Reinhart Maurer: ''Ausnahmslose Gleichheit?'', in: ''Die Ausnahme denken (FS Kodalle)'', volume 2, ed. by C. Dierksmeier, Würzburg 2003, pp. 165–76. * Vittorio Hösle: ''Variationen, Korollarien und Gegenaphorismen zum ersten Band der „Escolios a un texto implícito“ von Nicolás Gómez Dávila'', in: ''Die Ausnahme denken'', 2003, pp. 149–63. *Till Kinzel: ''Ein kolumbianischer Guerillero der Literatur. N. G. D.s Ästhetik des Widerstands'', in
Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift
1/2004, pp. 87–107. * Virgil Nemoianu: ''Nicolás Gómez Dávila: Parteigänger verlorener Sachen (review)'', in: MLN – Volume 119, Number 5, December 2004 (Comparative Literature Issue), pp. 1110–1115. *Till Kinzel: ''Denken als Guerillakampf gegen die Moderne'', in https://web.archive.org/web/20070731214655/http://www.aphorismus.net/beitrag17.html *''Prawdziwy reakcjonista. Nicolásowi Gómezowi Dávili w stulecie urodzin'', Krzysztof Urbanek ed. Furta Sacra, Warszawa 2013. *''Oczyszczenie inteligencji. Nicolás Gómez Dávila – myśliciel współczesny?'', Krzysztof Urbanek ed. Furta Sacra, Warszawa 2010. *''Między sceptycyzmem a wiarą. Nicolás Gómez Dávila i jego dzieło'', Bogna J. Obidzińska, Krzysztof Urbanek ed., red. Furta Sacra, Warszawa 2008. *Krzysztof Urbanek, „En torno a Nicolás Gómez Dávila”, Paradoxa. Revista de Filosofía, Nr 14, Diciembre de 2007 (Colombia). *Krzysztof Urbanek, „Nicolás Gómez Dávila – myśliciel świadomie niekonserwatywny”, Cywilizacja, Nr 23/2007. *Krzysztof Urbanek, „EX OCCIDENTE LUX II”, :Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Następne scholia do tekstu implicite, tłum. Krzysztof Urbanek, Wydawnictwo Furta Sacra, Warszawa 2008. *Krzysztof Urbanek, „Nicolás Gómez Dávila i demokracja”, Pro Fide Rege et Lege, 1/2007. *Krzysztof Urbanek, „Nicolás Gómez Dávila – myśliciel nieznany”, :Z myśli hiszpańskiej i iberoamerykańskiej. Filozofia – literatura – mistyka, Dorota Sepczyńska, Mieczysław Jagłowski ed., red. Instytut Cervantesa w Warszawie, Instytut Filozofii UWM w Olsztynie, Katedra UNESCO UWM w Olsztynie, Wydział Socjologii i Pedagogiki WSIiE TWP w Olsztynie, Olsztyn 2006. *Till Kinzel: ''Randbemerkungen zu Nicolás Gómez Dávila als Lehrer des Lesens.'' In: ''Einfache Formen und kleine Literatur(en). Für Hinrich Hudde zum 65. GEburtstag.'' Ed. Michaela Weiß / Frauke Bayer, Heidelberg: Winter, 2010, pp. 77–88. *Enver J. Torregroza Lara,
Antropología y fenomenología en Nicolás Gómez Dávila
' In: ''Pensamiento. Revista de Investigación e Información Filosófica'', Vol. 76, No. 291, p. 1153-1171.

External links

*

* ttp://zeta.math.utsa.edu/~yxk833/davila-Gilleland.pdf The Aphorisms of Nicolas Gomez-Davila
Gómez Dávila's Website in Facebook

Don Colacho's Aphorisms PDF

Don Colacho's Aphorisms, PDF

Don Colacho's Aphorisms, DOCX

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez Davila, Nicolas 1913 births 1994 deaths Aphorists Colombian expatriates in France Colombian male writers Colombian Roman Catholics People from Bogotá Catholic philosophers Roman Catholic writers Traditionalist Catholic writers 20th-century Colombian philosophers University of Paris alumni Reactionary

Biography

Published works

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links