Hector Zagal

Education

He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from the Universidad de Navarra, with a dissertation on Aristotle"s epagoge and has since then written several articles and books on Aristotle.

Career

As a scholar he specializes in Aristotle. Zagal has written books on ecology, ethics, Aristotle, gastronomy and literature. He has written on several topics of culture, politics, art history and literature.

He gained notoriety in the 2006 presidential election, when he wrote two books on two respective candidates.

He has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Notre Dame and the Universidad de Navarra, Spain. He has been an invited speaker at conferences held at several universities in Europe, the United States of America and Latin America.

He is the editor of "Tópicos" (Topics), the philosophy magazine of the Universidad Panamericana. Foreign the occasion of Borges" centenary, he compiled the book "Eight essays on Borges".

Presently affiliated with his alma mater, Universidad Panamericana.

Philosophy professor in Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy Universidad Panamericana Master in Philosophy, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy, Universidad de Navarra Master of Business Administration, IPADE He worked in the DIF, a dependency of the Mexican federal government during 2007–2008. - In newspaper columns, he has made himself known for comparing ancient Greek culture with present situations or popular culture. - He considers himself a social democrat, as stated in his weblog.

- As a writer, he is an open catholic.

Achievements

• In 1997 he won the "Raúl Rangel Frías" National Essay Prize" as coauthor with Luis Xavier López-Farjeat of an essay on national identity, which was published under the title "Two aesthetic approximations of national identity". The book is a balanced account of López Obrador when he was the most probable candidate to win the presidency, published a year and a half before the election.

Politics

Apart from his research on philosophy, he has continuously carried out work on the diffusion of the humanities and their application to politics, culture and business. Currently he is a member of the reviewing commission of the Institute of Philosophical Research at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Historia Política y Personal del Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal (Andres Manuel López Obrador, political history of Mexico City"s mayor) – written with Alejandro Trelles (Mexican political scientist). Anatomía del Institutional Revolutionary Party (Anatomy of the Institutional Revolutionary Party) – also written with Trelles, the book analyzes the major problems that the once-official party has to solve in order to survive.

Membership

He is a member of the Mexican Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (National System of Researchers). He is a member of the editorial boards of the philosophical magazine Themata (Seville, Spain) and the magazine Logo (of the Spanish Association of on Language, Thought and Classical Culture). He was a member of the committees on Human Sciences and Conduct of the National Science and Technology Council, and a member of the board of directors of the magazine Istmo.