Lecture by the Philosopher José Pablo Feinmann

April 6, 2011 · The New School, NY

Organized by:

• Consulate General of Argentina in New York
• Observatory on Latin America (OLA), in the context of the Design and Development Program

Feinmann presented on the topic: “History and Catastrophe: Towards a History without Teleology or Dialectic”. The lecture focused on contemporary issues exploring in particular the links between theory, history, design, and political action.

José Pablo Feinmann is a philosopher, novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1943. He studied philosophy at the University of Buenos Aires, where he started teaching from the age of 23. Along with other well-known intellectuals, he participated in the publication of the theoretical and political journal Envido. He was also a recognized columnist of Humor magazine, a publication based in Argentina, a satirical review that questioned the contemporary political reality, even during the military dictatorship.

Feinmann has published numerous novels and essays, as well as screenplays, which have been very well received by European critics. For seven years, he taught courses in Philosophy at the Argentine Psychoanalytic Center Foundation. His course La filosofia y el barro de la historia (Philosophy and the Mud of History), grew to over two thousand students. This course was later transformed into a Sunday supplement of the newspaper Página 12, where Feinmann already had a weekly column. Since 2008, Feinmann has also been the host of the television show Filosofía, aquí y ahora, (Philosophy: Here and Now), on the channel Encuentro of the Ministry of Education of Argentina, and Cine con texto (Cinema Context), broadcast on Canal 7. Feinmann just finished his latest book, El Flaco, diálogos irreverentes con Néstor Kirchner (The Skinny, Irreverent Conversations with Néstor Kirchner).

He is currently recognized as one of the most influential intellectuals in Argentina. His wife is the set designer and costume designer for film and theater Maria Julia Bertotto. He has two daughters. Feinmann in his CV says: “He is constantly consulted by the media, for all sorts of issues. He not always responds. He is a regular political polemicist, but only argues with those he considers appropriate to do so. Given the weakness of the opposition’s arguments (which are expressed not by intellectuals but by paid publicists) he believes that there is less and less need to be polemical.

+ See full list of the works of Feinmann