Ten years of the Zubiri Seminar of Guatemala. Programmatic reflections and contributions for a plural philosophical project

Abstract

This paper gives an account of the history of the Philosophical Research Seminar Xavier Zubiri in Guatemala. First, some background on the study of Zubiri at the Universidad Rafael Landívar (URL), under the influence of Jesuits trained by Ignacio Ellacuría in the eighties, or Jesuits coming from Spain, as is the case of Dr. Manuel Mazón. Then, it is shown how the idea of making the seminar, the original proposal by Fr. Mazón and its reception at the URL by Fr. Rolando Alvarado and the university authorities, until its emergence and implementation in July 2014. It then shows the very evolution of the seminar in its various stages, what has been studied and the ways in which it has contributed to the university community. It is argued that Zubiri has earned its own place in the URL, its crossings with phenomenology and its potential to problematize the sciences, especially the critical social sciences, of which philosophy has always been a very close relative.