The history of humanity has been teaching, for a long time, that a close interdependence -whether between political forces of the same country, or between it and all the others with which it maintains stable relations- requires common purposes if disaster is to be avoided. . And constructive common purposes will not prevail unless some community of sentiment is formed. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: BENEVOLENCIA Y PROPÓSITOS COMUNES
It is possible that, between the end of this year and the beginning of the next legislative period, the Uruguayan Parliament will face the responsibility of deciding on the two reforms that the government and the opposition consider essential: social security and education. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ¿Y LA BASE, EL CIMIENTO?
Aclaro, ya en el inicio, que esta columna ya fue escrita y publicada. Pasa que hace tanto tiempo, que es probable muchos no la recuerden y hasta no la hayan leído. Por eso la reitero, obvio que con ciertas actualizaciones y para que tenga vigencia. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LOS CHIMPANCÉS DE LA POLÍTICA
There is a simple exercise -obviously simpler the more intellectual capacity and good intentions the person who undertakes it has- that citizens could do about politics, the object of so much dislike and distrust today: appeal to memory, history books and any other way that allows us to remember if it is true that the quality of those who exercise it has been progressively diminishing at least since the middle of the last century. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA PREPARACIÓN DEL POLÍTICO
If I had the obligation to define the attitude of Uruguayan politics – all of it, government and opposition, although the generalization makes it uncomfortable – in the face of the ups and downs that are shaking the region, with different intensity depending on which country we are talking about, I would need, to be the civilized as possible, appeal to a metaphor. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ¡Ah QUÉ CÓMODO LIMBO..!
When we talk about improving coexistence in our society, the first thing to understand is summed up in a school-level phrase, even though that is the root of many misunderstandings and conflicts: “My rights can reach the limit where the rights of others». We all have constitutional rights in a democratic State, as well as obligations, but for both, no one ignores that there are limits. Continúa leyendo El PENSADOR: DETALLES MÍNIMOS, GRANDES PROBLEMAS
Now that we are just a few steps away from deciding on the educational reform project – or so the facts seem to indicate – I feel the impulse, even at the risk of being labeled as simplistic, to insist that the essential point is learning to read correctly, to develop comprehension and, in parallel, speak, write and think better. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL LENGUAJE Y SUS COMPLEJIDADES
The world of the future will be inextricably linked to the formation of the personality of those who, day by day, awaken to life. That is, those who are born with innate abilities –such as swimming or being amazed at the life they are beginning to discover- and others that will be built according to how they are treated. Continúa leyendo El PENSADOR: TODO EMPIEZA MUY TEMPRANO
There are problems in Uruguayan society, diagnosed decades ago, which, far from being resolved, become more complex and inconvenient. Perhaps, at least in part, they are expanded by the accelerated complexity of everyday life. That imposed by the rapid progress of problems caused even by important activities -and intrinsically constructive- such as science, technology and education, in addition to others, these pathological, such as social security in a country that sees its population age more than others and where the weakness in the fight against crime and corruption is losing ground, for now without remedy. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: AH, LA JUSTICIA
About a week ago it became known, through a survey, that fifty percent of Uruguayan citizens «did not hear or know anything about the pension reform project» presented by the Executive Branch to Parliament. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: DESCONOCIMIENTO CIUDADANO
I warn, without too much difficulty, that the unpopularity of politicians continues to increase among the majority of our society. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL PESIMISMO CRECE
As he usually shakes his threadbare clothes, almost without exception for a long, long time, I begin by admitting that the question I am going to expose is not new. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: CONSTRUCCIÓN DE PUENTES
Hate is killing us. Every day that passes, Uruguayan society is divided into tribes – small, large, of all sizes – that base their philosophy, if that is what generates their actions, on intolerance, lack of respect for those who think differently , fanaticism, discrimination, racism and the idea of dogma prevailing over the postulate. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EPIDEMIA DE ODIO
If there is an issue that politicians, so-called specialists, journalists and even many simple citizens who shout inconsistencies have turned into a gigantic pot of Spanish-style stew, which they feed with fiery enthusiasm without wanting to stop, it is security. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: Y, SI «LA POLICÍA A LA CALLE»
Listening to the arguments between pro-government parliamentarians and those of the opposition that have begun to torment our search for serenity, without pauses and at the speed of state-of-the-art machine guns, we can see that if something is lacking, or directly lacking in relation to the Rendering of Accounts project, it is the understanding. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: HACIA EL ENTENDIMIENTO
A report from an international specialized institute has been circulating for days among the professional journalistic media and on social networks, which measures the global level of the intellectual and cultural capacity of human society. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: CADA VEZ PEOR
I am convinced that a vast majority of adult citizens in our country do not have the remotest idea about the pension reform bill; that is to say, they do not know -unless slogans are repeated here and there, depending on where the sun is that warms them- how it will affect their lives and those of their descendants or why and, much less, the implications it will have on the economy on which we will all continue to depend afterwards. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: SOLO SÉ QUE NADA SÉ
A republican democracy, to be really and not in appearance, that is to say to function as it should, must be based on the independence of three essential Powers that are related to consolidate it: the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: DIFÍCIL, NO IMPOSIBLE
Hay una corriente filosófica de cierta antigüedad que sostiene que a muchos de nosotros solamente nos interesan los hechos de nuestra vida privada, lo que nos hace difícil experimentar subjetivamente, y de modo inteligente, lo que ocurre alrededor, es decir en la sociedad que integramos y en el planeta en el que ella debe funcionar. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: SOCIEDAD e INDIVIDUO
In its most common and understandable meaning, to think means to reflect, to carefully examine something to form an opinion. Implicit in this act is the fact that it allows forming ideas, opinions and even inducing action. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL LENGUAJE
I don’t know if when I write this column, the issue I want to deal with will have been resolved or will still be coming and going. Assuming the risk of developing reflections in this scenario, I do not want to curtail my right to free critical opinion. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: UN FALLO POLÉMICO
I have suddenly noticed, just by rereading some texts, that humanity, at this point in the evolution of science and technology and, supposedly, of education, is immersed in an infernal cycle regarding one of its most discussed problems the length and breadth of the planet: the damage that human beings, stuck in an apparent progress and in their ambitions, are causing to nature and that generates one of the greatest dangers for the near future. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL CICLO INTERMINABLE
Going back over old readings of philosophers from different times -Bacon, Kingsley, Huxley, Russell- I have noticed the antiquity of a problem that Uruguayan society suffers today and that I, perhaps confused by the speed, sound and little thinking of the modern world, I had believed something installed from the democratic restoration after the dictatorship. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA POLÍTICA MITÓMANA
There are many citizens – I know – who have been surprised by information that has been circulating in recent days: according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, based on data from the OAS Inter-American Observatory on Drugs, Uruguay is the country with the highest Per capita consumption of cocaine in Latin America. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: OPINIONES OLVIDADAS
In the previous column I tried to describe, as succinctly as I could, the number of unsatisfied needs that our society exhibits, suggesting that political consensus is as necessary as an increase in investment from abroad. And I remember that I also referred to the importance of education and my pessimism that, in reasonable time, its reform will become the effective solution to the problems we face. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EDUCACIÓN Y POLÍTICA
It is necessary to improve the economy – without inflation or the dollar through the roof – to increase the money in the hands of the State and use it in a more efficient and equitable way. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA SOLUCIÓN ESTÁ AFUERA
It is a great mechanic. Only instead of pieces to assemble its components there are words, mere words. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: SI, PERO.. ¿CÓMO SE ARMA?
This is a country where if there is something that is lost on a daily basis, and in real reiteration, it is people’s time. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL PAÍS DEMOROSO
Violence has always been present in human societies since time immemorial, in its meaning of «action or effect of violating or violating.» Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LAS VERDADES INCÓMODAS
If someone, observing what is happening in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, put forward the hypothesis that we are approaching a third world war, he would only be describing one of the considerable risks if the current situation spreads. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ENTRETEJIDO DEL CINISMO
Every day I create more as a lifeline for our society – I would say almost desperately – on the idea of cooperation, which is the idea of working together to achieve, without those of us who do so having to give up certain convictions that are essential to us, a common goal. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA COOPERACIÓN
In a synthetic but correct definition, egocentrism is, in the behavior of the human being, the exaggerated exaltation of one’s own personality to the point of considering it as the center of attention and common, general activities. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL EGO PERTURBADOR
In the universe of health care -especially in the private sector, and I emphasize it because it is the experience that I have lived more than once and to which I can refer solidly- there are certain behaviors, and I do not wish to generalize, that I do not understand ; and when using the verb to understand I want it not to be discarded perhaps, as naivety on my part. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA ATENCIÓN DE LA SALUD
In my opinion, progressively, we are witnessing a pathology that places the Judiciary in an uncomfortable position to say the least. The slowness of its procedures, at all levels, compromises with certain assiduity –and I do not intend to be alarmist- a more dynamic, balanced and equitable operation of the republican democratic system on which Uruguayan society is based. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL RITMO CANSINO
The most important thing was not the result of last Sunday’s referendum on the current Law of Urgent Consideration. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: UNA GRAN OPORTUNIDAD
Sometimes, in its itinerary to address essential issues for the country, a government should not ignore certain opportunities that are presented to it. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: INFORMACIÓN NECESARIA
If we were to consider describing today’s national culture from an anthropological point of view – that is, the sum of habits that become common in a society and define it at a certain time – the result would be profoundly devastating. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ¿CÓMO CAMBIAMOS EL ENOJO?
Tengo edad suficiente como para haber vivido en plena madurez intelectual, y además en ejercicio de mi oficio periodístico, el extenso, oscuro, amenazante y fabricante de novelas de terror –algunas que, sin embargo, se acercaron peligrosamente a hacerse realidad- proceso histórico que dio en llamarse “La guerra fría”. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL EQUILIBRIO FRÁGIL
With each passing day, my conviction that, as a society, we are on the way to becoming a factory of messes with increasingly serious consequences because it seems that all the guiding references, historically incorporated into it, they have entered a state of dilution or obscurantism. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA FÁBRICA
It all begins in the earliest, most tender childhood. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: VIEJAS IDEAS…¿NUEVAS?
During the last few days – weeks already, perhaps? – opinions of all kinds and colors have not been lacking, but rather abounded about a case that involves values that are the foundation of democratic republicanism: freedom of the press, protection of the used by journalists and the attitude that the judicial system must assume, both in the face of these values and hypothetical violations of their limits in the face of the Constitution and complementary legislation, including the New Code of Criminal Procedure. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LIBERTAD Y FORMACIÓN
On a daily basis, following the information provided by the formal media, supposedly serious -I’m not talking here about social networks or things like that-, We warn, and whoever does not do so is in trouble and will cause other problems for others, that violence, contempt for others and fanaticism grow daily in our community, creating a sort of social bad mood whose temperature, at least for now, , is constantly increasing. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: TODO ES CULTURAL
Throughout history many thinkers have opposed their ideas about language, some for pure search of notoriety, throwing on it different philosophical, moral and social views. In an incomplete list, one should mention Goethe, Tayllerand, Kierkegaard, John Locke and even the beginning of the Gospel according to Saint John with the famous phrase “In the beginning was the Word”. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: EL LENGUAJE
One of the most relevant successes of the government when it warned that the planetary pandemic unleashed by Covid was generating growing confusion among citizens, mistrust and above all fear, it was the creation of a multidisciplinary group of academics, known by the acronym GACH, who became not only his professional adviser but also his public voice whenever changing circumstances made him indispensable. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA LÓGICA DEL CONVENTILLO
This is a country full of paradoxes that fortunately, until now, has managed to survive them and the gross contradictions that have flooded the political system for decades. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: COLORES Y SIMBOLOGÍA
I feel condemned to write – in a state of real reiteration – about education. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ARTE PARA TODOS
There is a famous William Blake epigram – «The curse strengthens, the blessing relaxes» – to which it is often appealed out of context and, in this way, can become an exhortation to irascibility and aggressiveness, personal and social. Obviously, such an interpretation, no matter how common it is, is a mistake. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA AGRESIVIDAD SOCIAL
The generic meaning of the verb to enunciate is –except, as an exception, in its application to mathematics- of impressive clarity: “Explain, briefly and simply, an idea”. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: LA TRAMPA DEL ENUNCIADO
Every time society becomes embroiled in a bristling debate, aggressive about any of the main problems that affect her, it is only possible to select from sayings of all kinds that fly overhead, mostly overly politicized, a common denominator as an image of the beginning of a more constructive stage –although one intuits that, for the majority, it will be reduced to another verbiage without a healthy active impulse-: education. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: Camión de Rezagados
THE THINKER: SPACES AND ACTIVITIES En un contexto de desbordada politización, con tufo a campaña pre-electoral adelantada a empellones, el oficialismo y la oposición están incrementando un debate que, cual parabrisas de automóvil moderno, va tal vez demasiado rápido de un lado a otro del parabrisas que pretende ayudar a la vista a observar el camino, pero en este caso haciéndole un mal favor a … Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ESPACIOS Y ACTIVIDADES
There is an old phrase that for decades has been among the favorites of Danilo Arbilla, a colleague whom I respect and with whom I have shared years of journalism, and it falls like a glove for this column that I decided to write: Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: una ley a derogar
The Dutch ethologist Frans de Waal acquired much of his prestige after publishing the book «The politics of chimpanzees», in which – as I have already described more than once – he analyzes experiences carried out by scientists with these animals at the Arnhem Zoo, comparing them with the essential human political facts that, even practiced today, come from ancient times. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ¿HACIA DONDE VA LA POLÍTICA?
Si se presta atención a todo lo que se dice del Poder Judicial –procurando, claro, analizarlo desde un punto de vista racional, lógico, de libertad de pensamiento crítico- sobran motivos para, cuanto menos, expresar preocupación. If attention is paid to everything that is said about the Judiciary – trying, of course, to analyze it from a rational and logical point of view, of freedom of critical thought – there are plenty of reasons to, at least, express concern. Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: DE UNA BUENA VEZ
THE THINKER: MERCOSUR OR VILARDEBÓ? Continúa leyendo EL PENSADOR: ¿MERCOSUR O VILARDEBÓ?
Carezco de las dudosas virtudes de un adivino, así que ignoro si se alcanzarán las firmas de ciudadanos requeridas por la Corte Electoral Uruguaya para habilitar una consulta popular por la eventual derogación de ciento treinta y cinco artículos de la zarandeada Ley de Urgente Consideración. Continúa leyendo EDITORIAL: EL PENSADOR
LA AGENCIA MUNDIAL DE PRENSA 