Víctor Andrés García-Belaúnde Velarde (born 1977) is a Peruvian educator, psychologist and ethicist. He is a prominent advocate for secular rationalism in Peru, an otherwise highly traditional and religious country, and is active across various media. He currently leads the ''Manzana Escéptica'', a program for the popularization of science in La Mula TV, and is a panelist on Guía Escéptica, Peru's first podcast on

skepticism Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

, rationality and science. He is a professor at San Ignacio de Loyola University and at

Universidad Científica del Sur Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

in Lima, Peru, where he researches and teaches in ethics, philosophy of science,

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

and theory of science, and

deontology In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek language, Greek: and ) is the normative ethics, normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a ...

, respectively.

Education

García-Belaúnde graduated cum laude in psychology from

University of Lima The University of Lima (; ; ) is a private nonprofit university in Lima, Peru. It was founded in 1962. The decision to create the University of Lima was made in the early 1960s by a group of university professors, along with commerce and indu ...

. He obtained two Masters, the first in History of Philosophy at the

National University of San Marcos The National University of San Marcos (, UNMSM) is a public university, public research university located in Lima, the capital of Peru. In the Americas, it is the first officially established (Privilege (legal ethics), privilege by Charles V, ...

, and the second in Professional and Applied Ethics at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

, where he graduated with distinction for his thesis on the moral viability of

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

in humans.

Other notable public activities

García-Belaúnde is co-founder and executive director of the Secular Humanist Society of Peru. He has also published several articles on human nature and science communication from a psychological and philosophical perspective. He has been a panelist on educational programs for Radio Union, Radio Miraflores and RPP. Previously, he was a regular panelist on Radio Canto Grande 'Para-normales de la noche', the first radio program to raise awareness of

in Peru. He was awarded with the Go Harlem Brudtland Award for his work on ''Manzana Escéptica'', which deals with the discussion of ideas considered to be true for most, but false for science. He also has published the book ''Crítica de las interacciones del alma: Una aproximación aristotélica y cartesiana a partir de la ciencia normal'' in which criticizes the animistic explanations of Aristotelian hilmorphism and the

Cartesian dualism Cartesian means of or relating to the French philosopher René Descartes—from his Latinized name ''Cartesius''. It may refer to: Mathematics *Cartesian closed category, a closed category in category theory *Cartesian coordinate system, modern ...

from a naturalistic perspective. In the first chapter he explores the Aristotelian writings on the soul and the Aristotelian interactions of the soul with matter. In the second chapter he contrasts the functioning of the Aristotelian agent and patient intellect with the findings of cognitive psychology and cybernetic systems. In the third chapter he examines the Aristotelian postulates about incontinence and then addresses the problems concerning power and action in moral decisions. The fourth chapter deals with the Cartesian interactions of the soul with the body. There the validity of the relations between the soul, the passions and the animal spirits will be questioned. The fifth chapter maintains that it is not necessary to create an immaterial entity to explain the psychic phenomena. It also discusses body-body interactions, eliminating the intermediate entity (soul). Finally, he briefly recounts the evolution of material interactions (body-body) to

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

according to normal science.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:García-Belaúnde Velarde, Víctor Andrés 1977 births Living people Australian National University alumni Peruvian ethicists National University of San Marcos alumni Academic staff of Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola Peruvian male writers Peruvian psychologists University of Lima alumni Academic staff of the Scientific University of the South Diez Canseco family Belaúnde family Peruvian science communicators