Fernanda Navarro's career recognized at Mexican philosophy colloquium

Eirinet Gómez

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, September 18, 2025, p. 4

In the face of the violence plaguing Mexico and the ongoing wars around the world, philosopher, social activist, and social worker Fernanda Navarro affirmed: “Possibilities are open to everything, and with loyalty, you offer everything so that there are no wars, so that people don't kill each other just to have. When you are free, you don't have to repeat what is imposed on you; you are free to help the world.”

Navarro received a tribute and recognition from her peers for her career as a philosopher, as well as for her critical commitment that has inspired generations, at the first International Colloquium of Mexican Philosophy "From Silence to Echo: Our Mexican Women Philosophers." This is the first time that the Center for the Study of Mexican Philosophy has recognized a woman as a philosopher, the organizers emphasized.

Being with others

At the meeting, Lucía de Luna Ramírez, professor of indigenous philosophical thought at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, revealed a conversation she had with her mentor in early August on various topics: love, violence, communication, and the importance of knowledge.

"Understanding each other is the way to embrace each other, to be with each other, to love each other. You have to know how to listen; it's not the same as hearing; it means you pay more attention to try to understand what we've been told.

“Listening is like having your heart beat; it's deeper, it's not noise. We must remain silent because we are not born knowing. We must listen not only with our ears, but with humility, to hear what the words mean,” the teacher reflected.

In her conversation with De Luna Ramírez, the philosopher also raised the need to assess knowledge: "You have to look at what good and positive things your learning has brought you, ask yourself why, what for, who it benefits. You have to be innovative and make sure that knowledge is useful for something and for someone."

Navarro studied at UNAM and was the Latin American translator for the International Tribunal of the Conscience of Humanity. Throughout her life, she encountered León Felipe, Bertrand Russell, Louis Althusser, and José Revueltas, all of whom nourished her thinking.

In 2006, she joined Luis Villoro, who had been her teacher at UNAM, and remained her companion until the philosopher's death. Navarro often told her students that she had been many Fernandas throughout her life, but perhaps her meditations on interculturality and Zapatismo are one of her most distinctive traits.

"I experienced a turning point as a Mexican and as a philosophy scholar through my exposure to Mexican thinkers. My philosophical thinking was enriched by emphasizing the importance of recognizing the existence of other cultures of ours that had been marginalized, devalued, and forgotten in history as something obscure and hidden when compared to the Western world.

"It's not enough to recognize the existence of other cultures; there must be an interest and willingness to approach them, to know them, to understand them, to interact with them and among them. To embrace them," he wrote in one of the articles quoted during the tribute.

In his presentation, Manuel Ponce Rascón, a Mexican thinker and analyst, said there are two keys to understanding Fernanda Navarro: possibility and hope. "We must have hope, even if we have to wait," he often said in his classes. "It is to possibility that we owe our entire loyalty," one of his favorite quotes from Russell's work.

After receiving the Malinali Award from the Center for the Study of Mexican Philosophy, Navarro said that expressing what she feels would require a different approach: "I accept it with profound emotion. Our strength resides in our hearts, a loving bond filled with solidarity. To all of you, my most sincere gratitude. Thank you, life."

The tribute concluded with moving Mayan songs composed by his students, which reflect the contributions of Navarro's class.