Francisco Romero (1891–1962) was a Latin American philosopher who spearheaded a reaction against

positivism Positivism is a philosophical school that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positivemeaning '' a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. Gerber, ''Soci ...

Biography

Romero was born in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, Spain, but spent much of his adult life in Latin America, especially

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, where he emigrated in 1904. He entered the Argentine army in 1910 and retired with the rank of major in 1931. He became a friend of the Argentine philosopher

Alejandro Korn Alejandro Korn (3 May 1860 – 9 October 1936) was an Argentine psychiatrist, philosopher, reformist and politician. For eighteen years, he was the director of the psychiatry hospital in Melchor Romero (a locality of La Plata in Buenos Aires). ...

, and when he left military service he took over Korn's professorships at the universities of La Plata and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. Due to his strong disapproval of the

Peronist Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, Pe ...

government, he resigned his university positions in 1946, not returning until 1955. Romero began to publish on literary subjects during the First World War. Known as the "dean of Ibero-American philosophers," he became an influential critic, philosopher, and translator. Romero is interested in examining the space of human culture, especially with respect to creativity and social responsibility. A strongly anti-ideological humanist, he argues against

Humean Humeanism refers to the philosophy of David Hume and to the tradition of thought inspired by him. Hume was an influential eighteenth century Scottish philosopher well known for his empirical approach, which he applied to various fields in philosop ...

rationalism and all deterministic conceptions of the universe. True being is identified by Romero with transcendence, spiritual and moral aspiration, and

intentionality Intentionality is the mental ability to refer to or represent something. Sometimes regarded as the ''mark of the mental'', it is found in mental states like perceptions, beliefs or desires. For example, the perception of a tree has intentionality ...

. His writing is marked by a balance between philosophical rigor and literary sophistication, and ''Theory of Man'' (1952; English translation in 1964) is considered his master work. Romero was also editor in charge of philosophical publications at the Losada publishing house. He died in Buenos Aires in 1962.

Selected works

*''Old and New Concepts of Reality'' (1932) *''The Problems of Philosophy of Culture'' (1938) *''Program of a Philosophy'' (1940) *''Man and Culture'' (1950, translation of ''El hombre y la cultura'') *''Theory of Man'' (1964; translation of ''Teoría del hombre'', 1952) *''Historia de la filosofía moderna'' (1959)

Biography

Selected works

References

Further reading