The Universal Concrete and the False Idea of a National Philosophy: The Case of the Cuban Journal of Philosophy

Abstract

Philosophy, from its geographical and ideological diversity, has almost always tried to answer a relatively finite set of questions: What is knowing? What is our relationship with the world? Does God exist? What is the relationship between the soul and the body? These have been, according to various authors, some of the questions that philosophical thinking must answer to be considered as such. However, in the face of this simplistic perspective, others with a more complex and speculative nature stand, such as the interpretation given by G.W.F. Hegel or in a different context offered by Alain Badiou. In both cases, we would be faced with proposals, not only insufficient but also contradictory in order to define an autochthonous philosophy. At the center of this debate is the Cuban Journal of Philosophy (Revista Cubana de Filosofía). Without wanting to determine what a Cuban philosophy is in general, here, we will deal with the moment of this journal to elucidate why it is insufficient and contradictory to define a Cuban Philosophy using the notion of concrete universal (Hegel) as the journal did. Finally, the article concludes with a critique of the idea of ​​Humberto Piñera Llera repeated by the Cuban philosopher Alexis Jardines.