Local philosophical practices between 1974 and 1984:

Background and challenges to developing a philosophical way of life in the experience of Teresa Kuky Leonardi Herrán

Abstract

This article derives from the author’s undergraduate thesis in Philosophy, entitled Philosophy as a Way of Life: Critical Inquiries into Our Local Practices (2024). The thesis explored the tension between life and philosophy, and philosophy and life. To address the question of how life becomes inscribed within philosophical inquiry, the study first undertook a conceptual and historical review drawing on the work of authors such as Michel Foucault and Walter Benjamin. It then situated this theoretical framework within local philosophical practices between 1974 and 1984 through the complex philosophical experience of the poet, teacher, and political activist Teresa Kuky Leonardi Herrán. Accordingly, this article aims to examine the background and the challenges involved in  developing a philosophical way of life, both within the institutional framework of academic  philosophy and through the problematic experience of philosophy during Argentina’s last civic-military dictatorship. To this end, it analyzes the Philosophy curriculum at the National University of Salta as a source for understanding philosophical debates and practices; the practice of philosophy outside the National University of Salta from 1974 onward; and the problematic experiences of philosophy within the local academic community following the last civic-military dictatorship.