The Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas (Institute of Philosophical
Research) was created in 1940 as the Centro de Estudios Filosóficos
of the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, with a small group of distinguished
researchers and professors, and in 1967 it became a research institute.
Since its creation, the Instituto's fundamental tasks have been to produce
original contributions in philosophy, to train teachers and researchers
in philosophy and to spread philosophical knowledge.
Today, there is active work being done at the Instituto on at least
thirteen areas of research: Epistemology, Aesthetics, Ethics, History of
Philosophy, Logic, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Law,
Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, Political Philosophy, Philosophy
of Religion and Philosophy in Mexico. The philosophical traditions within
which this research is conducted are multiple, with the English-speaking
tradition predominating. An ideal characterizing philosophical research
at the Instituto is that of a well-argued, rigorous, clear and systematic
philosophy.
An important number of researchers of the Instituto have done their
graduate studies in foreign universities, many of them within the Instituto's
program for the training of researchers and with support from UNAM fellowships.
The Instituto has graduates from the University
of Indiana, Stanford
University, the University
of Minnesota, the University
of Oxford, the University
of London, the University
of Cambridge, Harvard
University, Princeton
University and the Universität
Konstanz.
Teaching at the Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas
The researchers of the Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas
have participated actively and intensely in the training of human resources
for research and teaching, as well as in the design of plans and programs
of high school level, college level and graduate level education all through
the country. They cooperate intensely in the teaching offered at the facultades
and schools of the UNAM, in particular at the Facultad de Filosofía
y Letras. Besides teaching a number of courses at the undergraduate level
in this facultad, they supervise several theses and dissertations there.
The Instituto shares with the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras the
organization of the Graduate Programs in Philosophy and in
Philosophy of Science.
The researchers of the Instituto have taught at other institutions,
some of which are the
Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales (UNAM),
Facultad
de Ciencias (UNAM), ENEP Acatlán (UNAM), Universidad
Autónoma Metropolitana (campus Iztapalapa), Universidad Panamericana,
Universidad
de La Plata (Argentina), Universidad
de Buenos Aires, Universidad
de Córdoba (Argentina), Universidad
de Salamanca (Spain), Universidad de Granada (Spain) and
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales.
In 1987 the Instituto created a new program for the training of teachers,
which includes advanced courses taught, for the most part but not exclusively,
by researchers of the Instituto. The program demands the participation
of the scholarship holders in the severalD academic activities of the Instituto,
such as seminars, symposia, lectures and short courses taught by guest
researchers, as well as the participation in a seminar exclusively for
scholarship holders.
Also, the Instituto offers advising to a selected number of students
writing their theses. It provides a small number of scholarships with help
from the UNAM's DGAPA. In addition, the research groups that develop collective
projects collaborate in the training of human resources, by incorporating
the scholarship holders to these projects.
