Héctor Jesús Zagal Arreguín is a Mexican philosopher, essayist, novelist, and associate member of

Opus Dei is an institution of the Catholic Church that was founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá. Its stated mission is to help its lay and clerical members seek holiness in their everyday occupations and societies. Opus Dei is officially r ...

. As a scholar he specializes in

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

Academic career

Zagal has written books on ecology,

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

, Aristotle,Aquinas on Slavery: An Aristotelian Puzzle. A paper by Hector Zagal.
Congresso Tomista Internazionale, 21–25 September 2003. Retrieved 27 June 2011. (English language) gastronomy and literature. He obtained a PhD from the

Universidad de Navarra 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 ...

, with a dissertation on Aristotle's

epagoge A syllogism (, ''syllogismos'', 'conclusion, inference') is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true. In its earliest form (define ...

and has since then written several articles and books on Aristotle. He has written on several topics of culture, politics, art history and literature. He gained notoriety in the 2006 presidential election, when he wrote two books on two respective candidates. He is a member of the Mexican

Sistema Nacional de Investigadores Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (National System of Researchers) or SNI is a governmental agency established in Mexico in 1984 to promote both the quantity and quality of research in Mexico, especially in the sciences. In the 1980s, the countr ...

(National System of Researchers). He has held postdoctoral positions at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

and the Universidad de Navarra, Spain. He has been an invited speaker at conferences held at several universities in Europe, the United States and Latin America. Apart from his research on philosophy, he has continuously carried out work on the diffusion of the humanities and their application to politics, culture and business. He is the editor of "Tópicos" (Topics), the philosophy magazine of the

Universidad Panamericana Panamerican University (), commonly known as UP, is a private research, Roman Catholic university founded in Mexico City. It has four campuses: the main Mixcoac campus in the Benito Juarez borough of south-western Mexico City, founded in 1968; ...

. He is a member of the editorial boards of the philosophical magazine Themata (Seville, Spain) and the magazine Logo (of the Spanish Association of Studies on Language, Thought and Classical Culture). He was a member of the committees on Human Sciences and Conduct of the National Science and Technology Council, and a member of the board of directors of the magazine Istmo. Currently he is a member of the reviewing commission of the Institute of Philosophical Research at UNAM. In 1997 he won the "Raúl Rangel Frías" National Essay Prize" as coauthor with Luis Xavier López-Farjeat of an essay on national identity, which was published under the title "Two aesthetic approximations of national identity". For the occasion of

Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known w ...

' centenary, he compiled the book "Eight essays on Borges".

Main publications

* ''La epgaogé en Aristóteles'' (The epagogé in Aristotle) – doctoral dissertation, a study and reinterpretation of Aristotle's term for induction, written in 1991, supervised by Alejandro Llano. * ''Ética para adolescentes posmodernos'' (ethic for postmodern teenagers) – a high school textbook for the subject of ethics. Translated to German as Ethik für Junge Menschen (Ethics for young men). * ''Horismos, syllogismos, asapheia'' – a book on the problem of obscurity in Aristotle. * ''Gula y cultura'' (Gloutonry and culture): a gastronomical study of universal literature. * La ciudad d elos Secretos * ''Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Historia Política y Personal del Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal'' (Andres Manuel López Obrador, political history of Mexico City's mayor) – written wit
Alejandro Trelles
(Mexican political scientist). The book is a balanced account of

López Obrador López or Lopez is a surname of Spanish origin. It was originally a patronymic, meaning "Son of Lope", ''Lope'' itself being a Spanish given name deriving from Latin ''lupus'', meaning "wolf". Its Portuguese and Galician equivalent is '' Lopes' ...

when he was the most probable candidate to win the presidency, published a year and a half before the election. * ''Anatomía del PRI'' (Anatomy of the Institutional Revolutionary Party) – also written wit
Trelles
the book analyzes the major problems that the once-official party has to solve in order to survive. * He is a frequent contributor to the Mexican newspaper ''

Reforma Reforma, the Spanish word meaning reform, has the following meanings: Companies and organizations * ''Reforma'' (newspaper), a daily published in Mexico City :* Grupo Reforma, parent company of the newspaper :* Agencia Reforma, news wire agenc ...

''.

Affiliations

* Presently affiliated with his alma mater,

. * Philosophy professor in ITAM.

Studies

* B.A. in Philosophy

* Master in Philosophy,

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

* PhD in philosophy,

* MBA, IPADE

Public office

He worked in the DIF, a dependency of the Mexican federal government during 2007–2008.

Intellectual positions

- In newspaper columns, he has made himself known for comparing ancient Greek culture with present situations or popular culture. - He considers himself a

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

, as stated in his

weblog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

. - As a writer, he is an open Catholic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zagal, Hector 20th-century Mexican philosophers 21st-century Mexican philosophers Living people Mexican political writers Academic staff of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México 1966 births University of Navarra alumni Mexican novelists Mexican male novelists Scholars of ancient Greek philosophy