RAMON
ALCOBERRO i PERICAY
Pals
(Baix Empordà), 30 May 1957
Born
in Pals (Baix Empordà) in 1957, he is a professor of philosophy
and the author of various books on philosophy, written primarily
in Catalan.
After
completing his secondary school studies with the Jesuits in Barcelona,
he joined the anti-Franco struggle as a member of a pro-Catalan
independence group – Joventuts Revolucionàries Catalanes
[Catalan Revolutionary Youth] – and was jailed and tortured
under the dictatorship (1975).
He
received his doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Barcelona
in 2001 with a dissertation directed by Dr. Margarita Boladeras,
Diderot y la construcción del sujeto moral (Diderot and
the construction of the moral subject), unanimously awarded a
grade of Excellent (cum laude). He also received the Premio Extraordinario
Fin de Carrera, an award given to the most outstanding graduate
in each degree programme, from the University of Barcelona, with
a minor thesis titled Diderot y el sujeto estético (Diderot
and the aesthetic subject), directed by Dr. José María
Valverde (1981). In addition, he has a Diploma in Theology from
the Institute of Theology of Barcelona (1995) and he has completed
studies in both psychology and sociology.
He
is the author of the first book on postmodernism published in
Catalan: El desordre cívic (The Civil Disorder) (1983).
He has also published a dozen or so books, essays and translations
on the philosophy of the Enlightenment, on the history of thought
in Catalonia, on the crisis of modernity and on applied ethics.
He has been, since 1996, an Assistant Professor of Ethics at the
University of Girona and since 1999 a consultant to the Open University
of Catalonia where he has taught ethics, the theory of knowledge
and modern philosophy.
For
his work he has received practically all the Catalan philosophical
essay awards: the Serra i Moret award from the Government of Catalonia,
the Serra Hunter award from the Institute of Catalan Studies,
the Arnau de Vilanova award from the Professional Philosophical
Association, an honourable mention for the Josep Vallverdú
award from the City of Lleida, etc.
Since
2001 he has coordinated the Business Ethics group of the Institute
of Technoethics (the Epson Foundation).
He
is a regular collaborator of “Userda”, a journal of
ecological thinking in Catalan. He has also coordinated the Philosophy
committee of the Ateneu Barcelonès since 2005.
He
is involved in the research project “La verdad y las razones
de la filosofía política” (Truth and political
philosophical reasons) (BFF 2003-03755) and has participated as
an advisor to the drafting of various laws enacted by the Catalan
Parliament.
He
is the administrator of one of the philosophy web pages of reference
in Spain and Latin America, http://www.alcoberro.info,
containing information in Catalan and in Spanish.
He is generally identified as a member of the la “Transition
Generation”, the group of philosophers who published their
first books during the early years of Catalan autonomy.
He is married to the philosopher Júlia Torres Canela and
has two children. Among other eccentricities, he collects ties
with colourfully designed drawings and rumba music interpreted
by Catalan gypsies.
