{"id":9332,"date":"2024-07-16T11:48:33","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T09:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/2024\/07\/16\/maria-jose-guerra-filosofia-comprometida-social\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T09:29:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T08:29:49","slug":"maria-jose-guerra-filosofia-comprometida-social","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/2024\/07\/16\/maria-jose-guerra-filosofia-comprometida-social\/","title":{"rendered":"Philosophy committed to social issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

For centuries, philosophy has sought to answer the great questions about humankind, civilization, nature, language, justice, ethical and moral principles, and beliefs, among other concepts. But, fair or unfair, one of the common criticisms of this discipline is that some of its formulations can be overly complex and, at times, it can become somewhat self-absorbed when addressing issues too far removed from the needs of an increasingly materialistic world.<\/p>\n

However, philosophy can also be concerned with, and indeed is, matters directly related to people's lives. As a reasoned reflection on a specific problem, its role can be transversal in the design of policies, regulations, and legislation of varying levels, in addition to providing the necessary theoretical foundation for decision-making in different areas.<\/p>\n

The Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of La Laguna Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Guerra Palmero<\/a> She has been with the academic institution for more than three decades, with an award-winning career in which she has become president of the Spanish Network of Philosophy<\/a>. From the outset, he leaned towards a more social approach to his discipline, and he readily aligns himself with the tradition of critical theory in philosophy, closely tied to the social sciences. \u201cI\u2019ve never been one for pure philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology\u2026 That\u2019s why, from the beginning, my vocation has been ethics and political philosophy. Also, exploring and supporting social movements like feminism and environmentalism; that is, movements that were breaking all the molds and raising issues that are now fundamental.\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Mar\u00eda<\/a>The Transition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guerra's arrival at university coincided with the profound period of change known as the Transition, the time when Francoism (more or less) came to an end, giving way to the current democratic state. Her vocation had already taken root in her mind thanks to the influence of some of her secondary school teachers at the Cabrera Pinto Institute, such as Ana Hardisson, and her decision to pursue university studies was very clear, especially since the other option she considered was studying Law, something that filled the young woman with dread because it would have meant studying the still-valid codes of the dictatorship.<\/p>\n

After passing the competitive exams for secondary school teaching, she taught at several high schools in Tenerife between 1985 and 1992, something the now-professor greatly appreciates because it is "a more hands-on approach to teaching." This period instilled in her the firm conviction that secondary and university education must be well-coordinated because the transition from one stage to the other represents a fundamental change in the lives of the young people who undertake it.<\/p>\n

However, he always retained the desire to pursue higher education, so he entered doctoral studies with an undergraduate thesis entitled \u201cPostmodernity and the Subject,\u201d dedicated to the Italian author Gianni Vattimo as a preliminary step. Subsequently, his doctoral thesis, defended in 1996 under the supervision of Gabriel Bello, already hinted at two of the subjects that would occupy a large part of his later career:\u201cMoral identity and intersubjectivity. Habermas and feminist critique<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, there is J\u00fcrgen Habermas, the German philosopher who remains very active today and is a leading figure in critical theory, whose ideas on modernity, especially his 1983 Theory of Communicative Action, have influenced Guerra's career. On the other hand, there is feminism, which has always been present in the professor's work. In her dissertation, she explored where equality between men and women fits into the German philosopher's theory, which was particularly relevant given his concern with "completing modernity" by adding more democracy, more deliberation, and more egalitarianism.<\/p>\n

\"Mar\u00eda<\/a>Feminism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although there is still a long way to go to achieve true equality between men and women, feminism currently occupies a leading role in public debate, and it would be inconceivable to promote any political, social, or cultural initiative with aspirations of rigor that did not incorporate a gender perspective. However, not so long ago, feminism in Spain, largely as a consequence of the closed-mindedness of the dictatorship, was a subject that lacked relevance even in academia.<\/p>\n

Thus, she recalls wanting to do a project on feminist ethics in her first year and struggling to find even three or four available books, among which she remembers an Argentinian edition of Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex"; Carla Lonzi's "Let's Spit on Hegel"; and "Anthropology and Gender," one of the first books on the subject published in Spain. "A breath of fresh air was beginning to blow, and we could finally read authors who were considered classics in other countries but had been banned here. That's where my commitment to academic feminism, not just activist feminism, began.".<\/p>\n

That doesn't mean there wasn't interest in these issues before, and in fact, Guerra recalls some pioneering figures like \u00c1ngela Sierra, who was already studying utopian and feminist thought when she entered university; and Amparo G\u00f3mez, who later analyzed the androcentric biases present in the development of science and technology. "At what was then the Faculty of Philosophy, we were fortunate that there was already a previous generation that had a clear roadmap.".<\/p>\n

Additionally, in the late 1980s and early 1990s there was what the professor describes as "the international explosion of feminist critical philosophy," which she was also able to experience very directly thanks to several postdoctoral stays in the United States: at the New School for Social Research in New York, with Nancy Fraser; and at a center for European studies at Harvard, with Seyla Benhabib.<\/p>\n

This feminist commitment was also reflected in her participation in the founding in 1995 of the Center for Women's Studies at the University of La Laguna, which brought together an interdisciplinary group of researchers to introduce and consolidate gender studies in our institution, with such success that in 2007 it would be transformed into the current one University Institute for Women's Studies<\/a>, which allowed for much more ambitious projects to be undertaken and which Guerra herself came to lead.<\/p>\n

Reflection on gender and feminist progress must remain on the table because, as Guerra reminds us, a reactionary movement is currently underway that seeks to erase the advances of recent decades. \u201cWe are suffering a great backlash<\/em>, "A very strong reaction, which I think has to do with the crises we have experienced since 2008.".<\/p>\n

\"Mar\u00eda<\/a>Applied ethics<\/strong><\/p>\n

The last decade of the 20th century also saw the explosion of so-called applied ethics, through which it came into contact with bioethics and, in this way, became part of it for many years. Research Ethics and Animal Welfare Committee<\/a> from the University of La Laguna and also from the decent body of Master's Degree in Bioethics and Biolaw<\/a>, to whose teaching she will return next year after a few years of absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cApplied ethics was controversial because there was a very classical view of pure philosophy, where you had to specialize in a particular author or school of thought, and it was viewed with some suspicion that you had to study things like the Human Genome Project and examine its social, ethical, political, and legal implications. It was very disruptive and innovative at the time.\u201d One of the appealing aspects for the researcher was that, to develop these ethical analyses, it was necessary \u201cto talk to colleagues from other disciplines and build something new.\u201d Again, that idea of interdisciplinarity.<\/p>\n

Within this theoretical framework, it is possible to address a wide variety of problems, such as ecology, on which she published the book "Introduction to Ecological Ethics" in 2002 and is currently preparing another entitled "Emergency, Transitions, or Collapses: Towards a Practical Political Philosophy," in which she reflects on how to understand resilience, "a concept that has become fashionable" and which she intends to extend beyond individuals to apply it in a broader sense. This interest has also been reflected in her involvement with Center for Ecosocial Studies<\/a> from the University of La Laguna, which he has even led.<\/p>\n

\"Mar\u00eda<\/a>Vulnerabilities and inequality<\/strong><\/p>\n

This applied approach is what Guerra has used to address studies related to inequalities and injustices, both very broad terms that generally determine research in which the boundaries between topics and disciplines become blurred. For example, when studying migrations, one aspect that the author has addressed is the feminization of these processes, which in turn has been broadened to also address the feminization of poverty.<\/p>\n

After participating in several research projects and directing some doctoral theses that address in one way or another the migratory processes, Guerra is clear that Africa and the consequences of colonialism and imperialism \u201care going to be the great European themes of the 21st century\u201d, as they are largely responsible for numerous tensions in the world today and almost take international relations back to a situation similar to that of the 19th century.<\/p>\n

In that sense, he explains that irregular migration is going to be a growing cause for concern. \u201cSomething that began between 2006 and 2009 (the first wave) and continued along the so-called 'Canary route,' was reactivated in 2019, but\u2014and I hope I'm wrong, given the dangers of the route\u2014I have the feeling that it's going to become structural, due to all the brutal tension in the Sahel, the climate emergency, political destabilization\u2014for example, France withdrawing from Mali and the entry of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group\u2014jihadism\u2026\u2018<\/p>\n

To all these problems, he adds the socioeconomic consequences of having subjected Africa \u201cto brutal extractivism by corporations.\u201d Whether he is talking about fishing in Senegal, uranium in Niger, or coltan in the Democratic Republic of Congo, everything leads him to a stark reflection: \u201cOur well-being is based on the exploitation of raw materials, but also of workers in other parts of the world.\u201d Therefore, it is important to approach these issues from all angles, with particular emphasis on the contribution of decolonial perspectives.<\/p>\n

Another key element in addressing injustices is the so-called "politics of recognition," which originated with Hegel but was developed in depth by Axel Honneth in "The Struggle for Recognition" (1992). "In democracies, not only is tolerance toward those who are different needed, but something positive: the recognition and validation of that difference. In the 1990s, much work was done on this perspective of multiculturalism and interculturalism, and the category of recognition is central." Therefore, making visible the discriminated groups such as women, migrants, and the LGBTQ+ community remains essential.<\/p>\n

And, without leaving the realm of inequalities, Guerra also frames them within developed societies, in which imbalances are increasingly acute, with phenomena such as the "brain drain" of students and workers or an increasingly precarious labor market, which is difficult to access and, on too many occasions, does not guarantee a minimum subsistence, all of this contrasting with increasingly large fortunes.<\/p>\n

In this context, he cites the work of Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen on the capabilities approach, which expresses the need for society to allow each individual to flourish and develop their capabilities. He also mentions the work of Andr\u00e9 Gorz, who, as early as the 1970s, raised the debate about the role that work should play in societies. \u201cDecades later, we haven\u2019t arrived at another way of thinking about work,\u201d he says, incorporating ideas such as a basic income that \u201cwould guarantee that no one has to submit to brutal exploitation because the minimum requirements for survival would be met.\u201d.<\/p>\n

The professor argues that the underlying problem is that politics is "co-opted" by the interests of economic lobbies, precisely at a time when the economy needs to be transformed to make it compatible with the climate emergency and social rights. "It is absolutely feasible to achieve this; alternative economists have done the math: the Tobin tax\u2014that is, if capital held in all financial circuits were taxed at 0.21% of GDP\u2014would solve a host of problems.".<\/p>\n

\"Mar\u00eda<\/a>The ethical-political-legal continuum<\/strong><\/p>\n

All the theoretical reflections that can be made from philosophy and other social sciences will undoubtedly contribute to a greater understanding of the subjects under study, but sometimes it might seem that these findings are not reflected in everyday reality. However, Guerra points out that, on the contrary, philosophical reflection can be the beginning of a process that actually culminates in application in daily life.<\/p>\n

He explains that the notions of international justice, climate justice, and migration justice are deontological frameworks that, if not properly framed, effectively remain "pure description." But from moral and political philosophy, one can contribute the normative: "the notion of equality, the notion of justice, the notion of reparation... that is, a structure that does not yet become legal.".<\/p>\n

At that point, Guerra elaborates on the process by which ethical reflection can lead to policies with real impact, which she calls the ethical-political-legal continuum: \u201cThe organization of major debates has usually fallen to ethics and political philosophy. Then, when we move from ethical debate to politics and agreements and consensus are needed, laws are derived from that, and we have the legal aspects. That's why I speak of this continuum because, in a way, we are the normative sciences.\u201d.<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence, the climate emergency, social inequalities\u2014any issue is susceptible to this initial ethical analysis; it is the necessary preliminary step. \u201cWe can describe the gentrification linked to mass tourism in the Canary Islands. Is that enough? No: it is the beginning, the diagnosis, so that we can then argue that the situation is unsustainable, unjust, and leads to discrimination, and that is why we must establish new regulatory frameworks, new public policies, a change of course to at least extinguish these fires of injustice and inequality.\u201d.<\/p>\n

Currently, there seems to be a certain regression underway, with the rise of extremist positions that question social gains that, until recently, were taken for granted. \u201cI see it with perspective,\u201d Guerra reflects. \u201cI remember that, having just emerged from a dictatorship, we had to hold thousands of debates: about divorce, abortion, same-sex marriage\u2026 until we reached the present moment. Little by little, we have gained freedoms. It is true that we are at a very delicate moment because there are also many regressive forces. But when you look at it with perspective, you realize how far we have come.\u201d.<\/p>\n

He cites, as an example, the rise in environmental awareness, which has increased exponentially in twenty years. \u201cEveryone thought they had the right to pollute, to build wherever they wanted. The creation of a series of laws\u2014the problem then becomes whether or not they are respected, and how they are applied\u2014is a very important social change.\u201d.<\/p>\n

Communications Office<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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