The Philosophers' Cocoon

This is the 15th installment of The Cocoon Goes Global, a series that gives a sense of what the philosophy profession looks like outside of the Anglophone West. This is a guest contribution by Ruling Barragán, Adjunct professor of philosophy at the Universidad de Panamá.

Country Profile.

 

The Republic of Panama is a small Spanish-speaking country (about 4 millions inhabitants, 75,000 square kilometers) within the Central American geographical region. Culturally speaking, it is more related to Afro-Caribbean and Colombian culture than to Central American countries. For instance, its food and music have been influenced by Afro-Caribbean cuisine and folklore, while its legal and political culture is heir to its history with Colombia (Panama was a Federal State within the 'Gran Colombia' in the second half of the 19th century).  Panamanian history has also been particularly influenced by the US, in a unique manner within the region, as part of Panama's territory (that surrounding the Panama Canal) was actually a US colony.  Panama achieved complete independence from the US in the year 2000, not without tensions, conflicts and even a military invasion (1989) throughout its history with the North American nation.  Nevertheless, on the whole, Panama has never been foe to the US.  Friendly relations have prevailed between both countries.

 

 

To begin with, it should be said that Panama does not have a significant influence in the history of Latin American philosophy comparable to countries like Mexico, Peru and/or Argentina.  There has been an important continuity of the Western philosophical tradition in these countries and some will argue (Enrique Dussel, for instance), even an outstanding non-Western, pre-colonial philosophical tradition.  Whatever be the case, most of Latin American 20th century philosophy has flourished under the influence of late 19th century and early 2oth century European philosophy.  The analytic tradition has been for the most part non-existent in Latin America until (more or less) the middle of the 20th century.  However, there was a prominent positivist tradition (especially in Argentina and Brazil) way before there was an interest along the lines of the Analytical tradition.  This positivist tradition (that goes back to the French philosopher Auguste Comte) influenced especially the legal profession and the political institutions that constituted most of our countries.  Panama was no exception to that.  Its most prominent legal and political thinker, Don Justo Arosemena (1817-1896) was influenced by that culture in his writings.  However outstanding as a political and legal thinker of the Panamanian nation, he cannot be considered, in the academic, professional sense of the word, a philosopher.  Neither that is needed.

 

 

About the former, I would like to stress that Panamanian culture as a whole neither has an interest in academic philosophy (or philosophical matters in general), nor an outstanding contribution to the philosophical profession ("outstanding" meaning here, "influencing other countries' ways of doing philosophy").  Panama has a lot world-renowned figures in other fields of culture.  In sports (boxer Roberto Duran, and baseball players such as Rod Carew and Mariano Rivera), music (salsa composer and singer Ruben Blades, who has also been a Latino Hollywood actor), painting (Alfredo and Olga Sinclair) and Alfredo Castillero Calvo (a UNESCO first-rank researcher in Latin American Colonial History), just to mention a few that easily come to mind with the arts, sports and the humanities. 

 

 

Within the field of academic philosophy, particularly, political philosophy, there should be mentioned two Panamanian thinkers–both already passed away–who had an outstanding influence in academic life and Panamanian politics. Their work was recognized in many countries in Latin America, as well as others outside the American continent.  One of them was sociologist-philosopher Ricaurte Soler (1932-1994); the other, philosopher-politician, Ricardo Arias Calderón (1933-2017).  The first was a marxist; the second, a Christian social-democrat.  Both of them, in different ways (and of course, opposite), had a mark on philosophy in Panama. While marxist thinking (at least, traditional forms of doing marxism) seems to be now in discredit and Christian social democracy does not seem to be a special subject of research at the philosophy department of the Universidad de Panamá, the fact is that most of the academic philosophy done in this country (not necessarily through articles and books, but also through social activism) has been essentially related to politics.

 

Besides the above, I would like to mention other two Panamanian philosophers (trained in the US), who had an important influence Panama's academic and cultural life, Diego Domínguez Caballero (1915-2011) y Tobías Díaz Blaitry (1935-2005).  The latter was student of Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000), the famous US process philosopher and theologian.

 

 

Most philosophy Graduates in Panama are high-school philosophy professors, as philosophy has been a traditional subject taught in high-school, being even an obligatory subject.   A very few graduates (whose higher university diploma is a MA taught at home) are occasionally part-time lecturers for undergraduate students at the Universidad de Panama.  Sometimes, they teach a very small number of undergraduates who a pursue a philosophy degree. 

 

Just to give an idea, the University of Panama may have a population of 50,000 students.  Students majoring in philosophy may be around 50.  A philosophy class for students majoring in this subject could only consists of 3 students.  Philosophy classes in high-school are usually overcrowded, although the number of hours dedicated to philosophy (ethics/values and religion, besides logic) has been reduced to a minimum, not sufficient to teach the subjects properly.  Since a few years ago, professors at high-school level are well-paid. Not tenured university professor receives a decent payment for the number of hours taught.  However, their salaries are very low for the same amount of work, in comparison with their tenured colleagues, in a situation not quite different from that currently happening in the US, between adjuncts and tenured or tenured-track professors. Thus, for example, the same teaching load (4 courses, 12 hours a week) can be paid 5 times higher to a tenured professor. 

 

Only two universities in the country have a philosophy department.  One has been already mentioned.  The other is a private, Catholic university.  Its philosophy department is mingled with the teaching of catholicism, so that its students are usually given preferences in Catholic schools (which is perfectly normal to expect).  However, their philosophical curriculum is minimal, so that undergraduate students, Graduates and philosophy professors of the Universidad de Panama do not take their degrees to be proper philosophy degrees.  However, the Ministry of Education take their degrees as valid to teach philosophy ("ethics, values and religion") in public schools.  This has created a certain tension in job seeking, as it has been said that Graduates from this catholic university has an unfair advantage over the State university (allegedly, they are more hired than Graduates from the Universidad de Panama).

 

In the view of the current author, a serious situation for the academic profession in Panama is the following.  With only a very few and notable exceptions, its new philosophy professors (academics recently hired or to be hired as regular professors) have no PhD degrees in philosophy.  Neither, along with that, a proper command, either written or spoken, of foreign modern languages, a qualification that is to be expected from any regular professor, in any Latin American university as large as the Universidad de Panama.  This means that the overall quality of the philosophical training received by students majoring in philosophy will be lowered.  Nevertheless, it could be argued, it does not matter to have PhD degrees in philosophy, as these new professors will only train high-school professors-to-be.  So, there is no (academic) need of a higher (PhD level) education for them.  For the same reason, there is no need for new professor to handle other languages than their own native one.

 

Another peril for the profession at university level is an astonishing lack of research.  Most Panamanian academic philosophers practically do not write anything.  The philosophy department does not have its own philosophy journal.  When a philosopher write something academic, he or she will do it in a humanities/social sciences/literature journal.  However, again, it can be argued, there is no need for a distinct philosophy research separate from the humanities/social sciences/literature.   It can also be said (not well sounding, in comparison with the situation of other academics, in other universities) that there is a great relief for Panamanian academics; they only need one (1) paper published to be considered for tenure-track. 

 

Other features of the philosophical profession in Panama are quite similar, if not identical, to those of Peru and Argentina, already described in the corresponding articles.  The big difference is that there is a large and significant philosophical tradition in the cultural history of those countries, with a substantial philosophical production (books and research articles, along with conferences and congresses).  So, regarding philosophical culture, Panama keeps quite behind her sister nations.  As suggested, philosophical matters are not prominent in Panamanian culture, so its cultural environment does not foster the pursue of philosophy.  Thus, individuals interested in professional philosophy do it at their own risk and rewards (motivational and economical). 

 

Despite lack of resources and/or a nourishing cultural setting, it can be said – in all fairness-  all of those who study philosophy in Panama do that because they really love it.  As a part-time philosophy professor for a few years, I am a witness to very interesting cases, in which people who can work  (or are actually working) in other fields – in which they can make a lot of  money or get prestige- prefer to study philosophy (read and talk with others about philosophy rather than writing it, though). 

 

To sum up, if I were to response to the question, what is like to be a philosopher in Panama ? , but in quite simple, brief, general and paradoxical terms, I would say "not so bad, but not so good either".