Ricardo Forster (born 26 September 1957) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines ...

philosopher,

historian of ideas Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual histor ...

and

political critic Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. He is professor and researcher at

Universidad de Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

and

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the Flagship un ...

. He is also member of the

editorial board The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take. Mass media At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, ...

of '' Pensamiento de los Confines'' magazine. Along with

Horacio Verbitsky Horacio Verbitsky (born February 11, 1942) is an Argentine investigative journalist and author with a history as a leftist guerrilla in the Montoneros. In the early 1990s, he reported on a series corruption scandals in the administration of Presi ...

Nicolás Casullo Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

and others created

Espacio Carta Abierta Espacio Carta Abierta or Carta Abierta (English: ''Open Letter Spot'') is a group of Argentine intellectuals who formed in March 2008 in defense of the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner government, which was facing a conflict with the agricultural s ...

("''

Open Letter An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an individ ...

Spot''"), a propagandistic group in defense of the Kirchner government, in 2008, after an attempt to raise taxes on agricultural exports led to large street protests. He also had a small incursion in television as presenter of "Grandes pensadores del siglo XX" ("''Greatest thinkers of 20th-century''") in

Encuentro Encuentro ( en, "Encounter") is an Argentine television channel owned and operated by the Argentine Ministry of Education. It began broadcasting in 2007 through cable television operators in the country. It airs as an independent channel and al ...

, in years 2009–2010. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, he ran for a seat in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon ...

. He was fourth on the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory ( es, Frente para la Victoria, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner w ...

list, which came in third place with less than 22% of the vote, not enough for Forster to be elected. In June 2014, the position of "Secretary of Strategic Coordination of National Thought" was created by the Kirchner administration and Forster was named its first office holder. The Secretary was given the task to "design, coordinate and instrument a factory of National Thought" and its creation and Forster's naming were criticised by the opposition but applauded by Carta Abierta. Forster is also an essayist and writer. In his works he develops his thinking on diverse subjects, which include

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

nihilism Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by I ...

, the entire concept of essay (topic of his

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

dissertation), and

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

s in general.

Selected bibliography

* '' W. Benjamin – Th. W. Adorno, el ensayo como filosofía''. Buenos Aires: Nueva Visión, 1991. * ''Itinerarios de la Modernidad'' (junto a Nicolás Casullo y

Alejandro Kaufman Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander. Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander (Czech, Polish), Alexandre (French), Alexandros (Greek), Alsander (Irish), Alessandro (Italian), Aleksandr (Russ ...

). Buenos Aires: Eudeba, 1996. * ''El exilio de la palabra. Ensayos en torno a lo judío''. Buenos Aires: Lom, 1997. * ''Walter Benjamin y el problema del mal''. Buenos Aires: Altamira, 2003. * ''Crítica y sospecha. Los claroscuros de la cultura moderna''. Buenos Aires: Paidós, 2003. * ''Mesianismo, nihilismo y redención'' (junto a Diego Tatián). Buenos Aires: Altamira, 2005. * ''Notas sobre la barbarie y la esperanza. Del 11 de septiembre a la crisis argentina''. Buenos Aires: Biblos, 2006. * ''El laberinto de las voces argentinas. Ensayos políticos''. Buenos Aires: Colihue, 2008. * ''Los hermeneutas de la noche. De Walter Benjamin a Paul Celan''. Buenos Aires: Trotta, 2009. * ''Benjamin. Una introducción''. Buenos Aires: Quadrata/Biblioteca Nacional, 2009. * ''La anomalía Argentina''. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 2010. * ''La muerte del héro''e. Buenos Aires: Ariel, 2011. * ''El litigio por la democracia''. Buenos Aires: Planeta, 2011.

References

External links

La guerra, Israel y ser judío

YOK ENTREVISTA – Ricardo Forster (parte 1)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Ricardo 1957 births Argentine essayists Male essayists Argentine male novelists Argentine educators Argentine philosophers Kirchnerism Living people Jewish Argentine politicians Jewish Argentine writers Historians of philosophy Political philosophers Members of Carta Abierta