Política de la liberación: Historia mundial y crítica (Estructuras Y Procesos/ Structures and Processes)

by Enrique Dussel

'If Enrique Dussel had been born in the United States, France or Germany he would be an intellectual celebrity. Author of dozens of books in Spanish, few have been translated into English. This book seeks to begin to remedy this injustice.'

Ivan Petrella, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Miami

Politics of Liberation presents a world political history, a partial and initial attempt at describing the history of political actors, the 'people', and their philosophical inspirations. It is a decolonizing of political history to begin to tell the accurate world story. In order to explore a politics of liberation a true world political history has to be told and understood.

The frameworks to be overcome include: 1. Helenocentrism, which neglects the non-Greek and non-Roman influences on Greece and Rome; 2. Westernization, which neglects the Byzantine world among others in terms of political development; 3. Eurocentrism, which neglects or denigrates the world outside of Europe when describing political history; 4. the periodization of political history according to European standards; 5. the falsely assumed secularization of politics; 6. the colonizing of Latin American and other peripheral political philosophies; and 7. the exclusion of Spain/Portugal and Latin America from modernity.

This is not simply one alternative reading, but it is a counter-narrative, describing the world's tradition of politics. It examines what has been said and what has not even been investigated. The starting point is the suffering of the people.

Enrique Dussel is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the Iztapalapa campus of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Autonomous Metropolitan University, UAM) and also teaches courses at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM). He has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy (from the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina), a Doctorate from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, a Doctorate in History from the Sorbonne in Paris. He is the founder with others of the movement referred to as the Philosophy of Liberation, and his work is concentrated in the field of Ethics and Political Philosophy.

Thia Cooper is Assistant Professor in the Religion Department of Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, MN and author of Controversies in Political Theology: Development or Liberation (SCM Press, 2007).

592 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2011

About the author

ENRIQUE DUSSEL nace el 24 de diciembre de 1934, en el pueblo de La Paz, Mendoza, Argentina. Exiliado político desde 1975 en México, hoy ciudadano mexicano, es profesor en el Departamento de Filosofía en la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM, Iztapalapa, ciudad de México), y en el Colegio de Filosofía de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la UNAM (Ciudad Universitaria). Licenciado en filosofía (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina), doctor en filosofía por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, doctor en historia en La Sorbonne de Paris y una licencia en teología en Paris y Münster. Ha obtenido doctorados honoris causa en Freiburg (Suiza) y en la Universidad de San Andrés (La Paz, Bolivia). Fundador con otros del movimiento Filosofía de la Liberación. Trabaja especialmente el campo de la Ética y la Filosofía Política.

Reviews

[Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a joy to read this. Finishing "Politics of Liberation" completes a multiple year journey, begun in grad school, of reading all of Dussel's major works translated into English (sadly a woefully small amount). Dussel is truly that rare thinker and author who weaves together creativity and brilliance in order to remain in touch with the humanity and agency of the "wretched of the earth."

Dussel's Politics of Liberation is a "critical counter-story," both a history of politics and a history of political philosophy/thought, that presents a new vision, a new periodification, and a new framing of themes ignored or discarded by Eurocentric political philosophy. It is an utter rejection of the false linear sequence that teleologically progresses from Greek-Latin- Middle Ages- Reformation- Modernity. Reflecting at the end of the work, Dussel recognizes the pressing importance of doing this, writing, "it was necessary to have a historical-global vision so the new generation incorporates in its daily perspective other civilizations and cultures, and knows to situate itself in that context." As I reflect on Dussel's recent passing (in early Nov 2023), I recognize a deep gratitude for his political, philosophical, and ethical work as a moment in my own personal journey to to gain a daily perspective that is in touch with what Dussel terms the Exteriority/Alterity of the Other (the victim). I couldn't recommend this work enough to those on a similar journey as an inestimable resource (if you want to start somewhere shorter and more normative, less historical, I can't recommend highly enough Dussel's short work "Twenty Theses on Politics").

[Tino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obra IMPRESCINDIBLE.