Carlos Pérez Soto

Carlos Pérez Soto at a seminar organized by medico international in Germany

Carlos Pérez Soto (born October 6, 1954 in Santiago de Chile ) is a Chilean physics teacher who is active in teaching and research in the fields of social sciences at various universities and whose publications cover a wide range of topics: philosophy of science and epistemology , political philosophy and Marxism , History of dance , antipsychiatry .

Life

In 1972 he was accepted into the Physics Teacher Training Course at the University of Chile's Faculty of Education , where he passed the State Examination in Physics in 1979, qualifying for high school physics teaching, his only formal academic degree. Although he began his studies during the boom of the student movement during the government of Salvador Allende , most of his student life was during the years of the Chilean military dictatorship .

Between 1975 and 1999 he worked as a physics teacher in schools of the enseñanza media (the secondary level of the Chilean education system) at high schools and schools in Santiago.

Carlos Pérez Soto teaches a class on Hegel's phenomenology of mind

His activity as a university lecturer began in 1984 at the Instituto de Arte y Ciencias Sociales (Institute for Art and Social Sciences), a reservoir for intellectuals opposed to the Pinochet dictatorship, which in 1991 became the University of ARCIS (University of Art and Social Sciences). As a university lecturer, he continued to give courses on epistemology and philosophy of science in fields of study in psychology , first at the University of Diego Portales and then at the University of Chile . By the late 1980s he was well known among students and academics for his critical stance, Marxist analyzes and concrete political proposals. In this context he was invited to give courses and lectures at numerous Chilean universities, so that the following years were characterized by intensive teaching activities.

For the last decade he has given regular lectures and optional seminars at the University of Chile (Law Faculty), the Catholic University of Valparaíso (Psychology Department), Andrés Bello University (Sociology Department), the University of Santiago (Philosophy Department), at the University Academy for Christian Humanism (School of Dance) and at the Universidad Finis Terrae (School of Theater).

In the late 90s, also, he began to hold some seminars and lectures outside of Chile, namely at the Autonomous University of Barcelona , on Hegel (1997) and Marxism (1999), as well as in Cali , at the Universidad del Valle , about Epistemology and Dialectics (1998).

Pérez Soto at Hegel's grave in Berlin

At the University of ARCIS , where he carries out the majority of his academic activities, he worked in teaching on regular courses in the field of psychology (psychological theories and systems) and in the fields of sociology (epistemology; classics of social thought - Marx; science, technology and Society), philosophy (philosophy of science), political science (theory of power and the state) and dance education (history of dance), as well as senior researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones Sociales (center for social science research) and as coordinator for academic computer science.

As a Marxist intellectual, he has been interviewed with some frequency by the left press in Chile, mainly for his relevant theoretical contributions to political discussion. He took an active part in the student movement in 2011 and 2012 by providing analyzes and proposals for the transformation of the Chilean education system.

His class analysis of the type of society that is taking shape under the neoliberal economic model has caught the interest of international organizations and has given rise to lectures on the subject.

Also among the Hegel specialists, as well as with regard to the reception of Hegel and Marx in the Frankfurt School , especially Herbert Marcuse, Carlos Pérez is often planned as a speaker at international meetings. In addition to his extensive teaching activities in regular courses and electives at universities, since 2009 he has been holding a series of free seminars on Hegel's phenomenology of the mind , as well as on Marxism and psychoanalysis , critical legal theory, the history of Marxism, or Carl Sagan : Introduction to contemporary natural philosophy .

Since 2009 he has also been a lecturer in epistemology in several graduate programs (Master and Ph.D.) at the Andrés Bello University and the ARCIS University , where he critically reflects on the methodological aspects of social sciences in his lectures and seminars. He likes to think of himself as a physics teacher, “a provocation of the academic establishment ”, as he says. Instead, the state press prefers to quote him as a “great epistemologist”.

In 2013 he decided to publish his books under the Creative Commons license, CC BY-NC-ND (which allows the texts to be copied and distributed freely and free of charge, provided the source is acknowledged; you can neither modified, nor used for commercial purposes).

Theoretical contribution and most important ideas

In the field of epistemology he developed a historical and dialectical analysis of the concept of science, in detail:

• The development of the idea that the scientific method must be viewed as the legitimation logic of the scientific community;
• the proposal of a rational reconstruction of the history of the philosophy of science, from which it is possible to criticize the claim to truth resulting from the scientific;
• the development of a historical concept of science based on a Marxist critique of epistemological anarchism by Paul Feyerabend ;
• the formulation of a critique of the prevailing public subjectivity among the middle classes, based on a historical and social conception of modern psychology.

In the political field, Carlos Pérez relies on “Hegelian Marxism” for his theoretical approach and his proposals, a position which, in his opinion, could become the philosophical basis for the emergence of a new type of Marxism. The following contributions stand out:

• The idea that the bureaucracy should be viewed as a social class in the Marxist sense of the word "class";
• the formulation of a Marxist criticism of the ruling regime in the socialist countries, based on the concept of the bureaucracy as a class;
• a critical assessment of the objective bureaucratization processes that took place in advanced capitalism;
• the suggestion of a reconstruction of Marxist theory on the basis of a materialistic reading of Hegel's philosophy.

His proposals for a new antipsychiatry also constitute a political program. They focus on a profound criticism of psychiatric practice, the need to de-medicalize and de-privatize symptoms in order to return the problems to the real realm of their origin, origin and perpetuation: the social sphere. Among other differences to the postulates of the antipsychiatry of the twentieth century (for example Laing , Cooper or Basaglia ), the "new" antipsychiatry represented by Pérez Soto overcomes the paternalistic aspects of the "open homes" and goes beyond the logic of organizing a more humane and qualitatively better one psychiatric treatment in order to pave the way for antipsychiatry that originates from those affected. Apart from the historical summary and connection, two individual contributions by Carlos Pérez stand out:

• The development of a critique of the processes of medicalization of behavioral disorders;
• the suggestion of distinguishing features that allow a critique of the medicalization and commercialization of today's medicine.

Significant contributions to the arts and dance are:

• His proposal for a theoretically sound reconstruction of the history of modern dance in its European tradition for the twentieth century;
• his suggestion of technical characteristics for differentiating styles in contemporary dance;
• his suggestions and theoretical distinctions with regard to political art, the political use of art, and politics in the artistic milieu.

With his second book Commenting on Dance Pieces , he declared that he had ended his foray into the history of dance, as he says, in order to return to the central axis of his developments.

“In general, I write about Marxism, that is the focus of all my thoughts. From there I made excursions into epistemology and philosophy of science, into the field of critical psychology and antipsychiatry. Probably from now on I will write much more about Hegelian philosophy, to which I devoted long years of study. Except for the more general content of aesthetics and art history, for me this book represents the end of a cycle and a farewell. "

- Pérez Soto, C .: Comentar obras de danza (Commenting on dance pieces), p. 244, February 2012

Works

Books

• Sobre la condición social de la psicología (On the social nature of psychology). First edition, ARCIS-LOM, Santiago, October 1996; second expanded edition, LOM, Santiago, 2009, ISBN 978-956-00-0108-5 .
• Epistemología de la ciencia (epistemology and science). Publication by the Institute for Education and Pedagogy, Universidad del Valle, Santiago de Cali, Colombia, March 1998.
• Sobre un concepto histórico de ciencia (About a historical concept of science). First edition, ARCIS - LOM, Santiago, October 1998; second revised edition, LOM, Santiago, July 2008, ISBN 978-956-282-991-5 .
• Comunistas otra vez, para una crítica del poder burocrático (Communists again, for a criticism of bureaucratic power). First edition, ARCIS - LOM, Santiago, 2001; second revised edition, LOM, Santiago, 2008, ISBN 978-956-282-988-5 .
• Sobre Hegel (About Hegel). First edition, Editorial Palinodia, Santiago, 2006; second revised edition, LOM, Santiago, 2010, ISBN 978-956-8438-05-0 .
• Proposición de un marxismo hegeliano (proposal of a Hegelian Marxism). First edition, Editorial Universidad ARCIS, Santiago, 2008; second revised and expanded edition, published on the Internet under a Creative Commons license, 2013.
• Proposiciones en torno a la historia de la danza (theses on the history of dance). Editorial LOM, Santiago, 2008, ISBN 978-956-00-0007-1 .
• Desde Hegel, para una crítica radical de las ciencias sociales (From Hegel, for a radical criticism of the social sciences). Editorial Itaca, Mexico City, Mexico, 2008, ISBN 978-968-9325-11-6 .
• Una nueva antipsiquiatría (A New Antipsychiatry). Editorial LOM, Santiago, ISBN 978-956-00-0361-4 .
• Comentar obras de danza (Commenting on dance pieces). Published on the Internet under a Creative Commons License, 2013.
• Marxismo y movimiento popular (Marxism and popular movement). Published on the Internet under a Creative Commons License, 2013.

Article (selection)

• En defensa de un marxismo hegeliano (In Defense of a Hegelian Marxism), in the Chilean edition of Actuelle Marx, ARCIS, 2003 (paper given at the Communism Conference , at the University of Frankfurt , November 2003)
• La danza como forma artística (dance as an art form), Aisthesis magazine Nº 43, Instituto de Estética, Catholic University of Chile , July 2008
• Derecho a la violencia y violencia del derecho (The right to violence and the violence of the law), Derecho y Humanidades magazine N ° 20, Faculty of Law, University of Chile , 2012. Published in Brazil in Arma da Critica magazine , N ° 4, December 2012, indexed in Latindex.
• Vaguedad en el realismo jurídico (vagueness in legal realism), Derecho y Humanidades magazine N ° 19, Faculty of Law, University of Chile , 2012

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Academic curriculum on the University of Chile website
2. ↑ Carlos Pérez Soto on the website of the Law Faculty ( Memento of the original from March 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ EL DEVENIR DE LA TRADICIÓN DE LA FILOSOFIA DE LA CIENCIA EN GENERAL. (PDF; 172.4 kB) Text of the seminar in Cali. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014 ; Retrieved February 14, 2016 (Spanish). 
4. ↑ Interview in the magazine Punto final December 2008.
5. ↑ Lecture at the Universidad Austral de Chile on the redesign of the educational model; November 15, 2012.
6. ^ Note in the online journal of the University of Chile
7. ↑ Carlos Pérez Dicto charlas en Alemania sobre 40 años de neoliberalismo en Chile. News bulletin from the University of Arcis. October 14, 2013, archived from the original on March 23, 2014 ; Retrieved February 14, 2016 (Spanish). 
8. ↑ Seminar ( Memento of the original from March 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , organized by medico international on September 16, 2013 (in German) 
9. ↑ Learning from Chile: Neoliberalism and Protest Forum in Frankfurt, on September 12, 2013 (in German)
10. ↑ International Conference, "Adorno, 100 Years", at the Goethe-Institut El Mercurio, October 3, 2003
11. ^ Announcement of the course Hegel and the Social Sciences Autonomous University of Mexico , February 2008.
12. ↑ Lecture by Pérez Soto ( Memento of the original from March 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in a graduate program at Andrés Bello University  
13. ↑ Interview in “El Ciudadano”: A la señora Bachelet no le conviene ser presidenta ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (It is not advantageous for Ms. Bachelet to become President) 
14. ↑ Evidencia y Clarividencias El Mercurio, November 18 of 2007.

Web links

• Translations of the works of Carlos Pérez, including into German.
• In the land of the depressive collapse - 40 years of neoliberalism in Chile - a social catastrophe , short version by medico international
• 40 years of neoliberalism in Chile (PDF; 160.3 kB), detailed essay