The César Manrique Foundation (FCM) will host next Thursday, October 23, at 7:30 p.m., the conference entitled The Human Being as Open Depth, given by the philosopher and essayist, Josep María Esquirol, who has developed his own philosophical proposal that he has distinguished as a "philosophy of proximity." The event will take place in the José Saramago room (La Plazuela, Arrecife) and will be broadcast live through the FCM website and YouTube channel.
In his presentation, Professor Esquirol will ask whether, in the face of the consideration of power as the central axis of contemporary life—the power of language and technological power—the primordial power does not lie in a more human condition that puts sensitivity, affections, and openness to life at the center.
In this way, the aim will be to define the human being as one who, due to their capacity to feel deeply, is moved by the mystery of the world, by the possibilities offered by other people, and by the unease caused by their own finitude. Based on this approach, which implies another human understanding, the philosopher will propose an alternative horizon to the violence and global indifference that characterizes our time.
The intervention of Josep María Esquirol is included within the reflection space Borders and Directions of Progress of the FCM. A forum aimed at reviewing the idea of progress contemplated from multidisciplinary perspectives, and in which there has already been the presence, among others, of Ramón Margalef, José Manuel Naredo, Federico Aguilera Klink, Fernando Savater, Jorge Riechmann, Rafael Argullol, Ulrich Beck, Marc Augé, Susan George, Daniel Innerarity, Joaquín Estefanía, Gloria Poyatos, Marta del Amo, Íñigo Losada, Remedios Zafra, Óscar Carpintero, María Teresa Vicente or, recently, Antonio Valero.
Josep María Esquirol is a professor of Philosophy at the University of Barcelona, where he teaches contemporary philosophy and directs the Aporía research group, dedicated to the relationship between philosophy and psychiatry. He has published more than a hundred articles in specialized journals and a dozen books. It is, above all, in his latest publications where he presents, in a more articulated way, his "philosophy of proximity": The Intimate Resistance (2015), which was the City of Barcelona Award and the National Essay Award, The Penultimate Kindness (2018), Human, More Human (2021), and The School of the Soul (2024). His works have been translated into Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and German.
