Historical Background

Around 1964, Alejandro Rossi—one of the early promoters of analytic philosophy in Mexico—conceived the idea of creating a journal exclusively devoted to analytic philosophy. Fernando Salmerón and Luis Villoro joined him in the project, which was not initially affiliated with the Institute for Philosophical Research (IIFs) at UNAM. They named it Crítica. Revista Hispanoamericana de Filosofía and envisioned it as a vehicle for dialogue among analytically oriented philosophers in Latin America and beyond. This aspiration was reflected in the composition of its first editorial team, which included pioneers of analytic philosophy from across Latin America: Thomas Moro Simpson (Argentina), Juan Nuño (Venezuela), Augusto Salazar Bondy (Peru), Francisco Miró Quesada (Peru), and Héctor-Neri Castañeda (Guatemala).

Crítica also aimed to provide a more dynamic platform than Diánoia, which at the time was published annually and only in Spanish. By contrast, Crítica was a quarterly journal that accepted submissions in multiple languages. Its early issues featured invited contributions in English by renowned analytic philosophers such as Gilbert Ryle, W.V.O. Quine, Georg Henrik von Wright, P.F. Strawson, John Passmore, Arthur Prior, G.E.M. Anscombe, David Pears, and Paul Lorenzen. Although the first issue was prepared in early 1966, budgetary constraints delayed its publication until January 1967.

The journal's mission was implicit in its title, but the inaugural editorial—written by Rossi and co-signed by Salmerón and Villoro—made that mission explicit. For them, analytic philosophy was not a philosophical school but rather a critical tool for resisting prevailing trends in Latin American philosophy. They viewed conceptual analysis as a method for countering the sweeping generalizations and unverifiable claims characteristic of the speculative philosophy inherited from José Gaos and his followers. It also offered an alternative to the literary, essayistic style adopted by many Latin American philosophers writing on cultural and anthropological topics. Analytic philosophy, in their view, promised greater professionalism through conceptual clarity and argumentative rigor, aligning philosophical inquiry more closely with scientific methodology.

Instead of building grand philosophical systems, Crítica welcomed concise, rigorous contributions that could benefit from engagement with both the formal and natural sciences. While this approach meant sacrificing some of the ambition of speculative philosophy, it created opportunities for meaningful philosophical work in Latin America, regardless of scale. The editors' critical stance toward Gaos’ historical methodology likely contributed to the early exclusion of work on the history of philosophy and the philosophy of history. Likewise, the early issues contained no contributions in ethics, philosophy of education, or political philosophy.

Today, the situation is different. While Crítica remains committed to its original methodological outlook, it now welcomes submissions in all areas of philosophy, including the history of philosophy—provided they engage with philosophical problems and arguments, rather than focusing solely on exegetical or contextual issues.

In 1969, Crítica became part of the publishing program of IIFs at UNAM, which ensured its timely and regular publication for many years.

Unlike most contemporary academic journals, Crítica lacked an official Editor-in-Chief for a long time. Between the 1970s and early 2000s, various researchers at the IIFs took turns overseeing the publication of each issue. These included Javier Esquivel, Hugo Margáin, José Robles, Enrique Villanueva, and Raúl Orayen. They were later joined by Mark Platts, León Olivé, Carlos Pereda, and Olbeth Hansberg. Margarita Valdés served as the journal’s first Editorial Secretary for many years, and Olbeth Hansberg worked on proofreading many early issues—valuable but often invisible editorial work.

In 2005, Maite Ezcurdia was appointed the first official Editor-in-Chief of Crítica. She worked to modernize the journal and, in April 2006, as a natural extension of Crítica's mission, she proposed the creation of the Latin American Association for Analytic Philosophy (ALFAn) to Olbeth Hansberg, Guillermo Hurtado, Carlos Pereda, and Silvio Pinto. The proposal gained interest and support from philosophers in Brazil (Marco Ruffino, Paulo Faria, and André Leclerc), Argentina (Alberto Moretti, Eleonora Orlando, and Diana Pérez), and also from scholars in Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay. The following year, during the celebration of Crítica’s 40th anniversary, the first ALFAn meeting took place as part of the IIFs International Symposium.

Maite Ezcurdia was succeeded as Editor-in-Chief by Mario Gómez Torrente (2011–2016), Alessandro Torza (2017–2022), Édgar González Varela (2022–2024), and Santiago Echeverri (2024–).