Stefan Gandler (born 1964 in Munich) is a philosopher and social scientist. He studied at Frankfurt University and has lived in Mexico since 1993Library of Congress Name Authority File.Koninklijke Brill NV: Biographical note
Life Gandler studied Philosophy, Latin American studies, Romance Languages and Literatures and Political science in Frankfurt/Main, among others with Alfred Schmidt, and he was the Chairman of the Frankfurt General Students' Committee (AStA) in 1989/90.Abschied vom Intellektuellen (Detlef zum Winkel in konkret, 2/1990, S. 59–61.)
1997 Stefan Gandler earned his doctorate with a study on Contemporary Social philosophy in Mexico,Arturo Jiménez: Stefan Gandler publica en español libro que amplía su tesis doctoral contra el eurocentrismo. Reivindica estudioso el marxismo crítico de Sánchez Vázquez y Bolívar Echeverría. In: La Jornada. México, September 28, 2007, p. 6a. which has been translated in two languages.Stefan Gandler: Marxismo crítico en México. Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez y Bolívar Echeverría. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México 2007, ; Stefan Gandler: Critical Marxism in Mexico. Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez and Bolívar Echeverría. (Historical Materialism Book Series). Brill Academic Press, Leiden 2015. 1997 Gandler was tenured as professor for Social theory and Social Philosophy at the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro (UAQ) and has this position until today, and since 2008 he is additionally permanent invited professor for philosophy at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Gandler is PhD adviser in the UNAM doctorate program in philosophy in three areas: Political philosophy, Philosophy of culture and Aesthetics. Gandler is also, since 2001, member of the Sistema Nacional de InvestigadoresSistema Nacional de Investigadores homepage (category 3)Sistema Nacional de Investigadores: Padrón de Benificiarios, Sistema Nacional de Investigadores: Resultados de la Convocatoria 2016, Ingreso o Permanencia and founded in 2012 the Research Project on Critical Theory from the AmericasCONACYT, Resultados de la convocatoria of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). Gandler is since 2007 chair of the academic group Modernity, development and regionCuerpo Académico Modernidad, Desarrollo y Región from the Mexican Federal Education Authority.Gandler/Serna/Palacios (eds.), Modernidad y diferencia. Reflexiones conceptuales y estudios empíricos en género y territorio. México, D.F./Querétaro, Miguel Ángel Porrúa /Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro/H. Cámara de Diputados, 2010, p. 123 and UAQ homepage This academic group has published five collective books. (SEP)Secretaría de Educación Pública, PRODE . In his sabbatical years he researched und taughtwith the approval of the CONACYT: Resultados de la convocatoria at the Universität Frankfurt am Main (2001/2002), the University of California, Santa Cruz (2009/2010),"... the Californian University professor Stefan Gandler" (Matthias Freiling, Eine Woche Bildungsstreik in Frankfurt. In: HLZ. Zeitschrift der GEW Hessen, Frankfurt/Main, year 63, no.1/2, jan.-feb. 2010, pp. 10-11. Center for Cultural Studies, UCSC: announcement the Tulane University, New Orleans (2015/2016).Roger Thayer Stone Center For Latin American Studies, Tulane University: announcement and the Universität Innsbruck (2021/2022).Forschungszentrum Social Theory, Universität Innsbruck: announcement The main research fields of Stefan Gandler are the Critical theory of the Frankfurt School, the critical western Marxism, philosophy in Latin America, Critique of ideology and Walter Benjamin."With sixteen books and over 150 articles published on critical theory, German philosophy, and Marxism in the Americas, Stefan Gandler is certainly worthy of study by anyone interested in this complex philosophical tradition, especially as it has been encountered and furthered by philosophers south of the U.S.–Mexican border." (Carlos Alberto Sánchez: From the editor. In: APA Newsletter on Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy, American Philosophical Association, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, vol. 14, no. 1, fall 2014, p. 1. .) Sánchez calls Gandler a exemplary, contemporary Latin American philosopher. He worked also as translator of philosophical texts between Spanish and German and published texts on Today's Germany and the National Socialism.See for example: Alemania: antes y después de Shoah. In: La Jornada Semanal. Supplement of La Jornada. Mexico City, no. 589, June 18, 2006, p. 5. Gandler is working on a productive conceptual confrontation between the Critical theory of the Frankfurt School and its contemporary further developments in Latin America,Javier Laso: Palabra Suelta. Entrevista con Stefan Gandler. Interview in the public Ecuadorian Television Channel ECTV (Ecuador TV), July 14, 2010, 9:30pm to 10:15pm,. for example from the Ecuadorian-Mexican philosopher Bolívar Echeverría,Michael Löwy: Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez y Bolívar Echeverría. In: La Jornada. Mexico City, may 6, 2007 p. 4a. trying to overcome the limitations of both: the philosophical Eurocentrism in the first case, and the reduced Critique of ideology in the second.Julio Boltvinik: Gandler critica a Bolívar Echeverría. Se presentó en el FCE Marxismo crítico en México. In: La Jornada. México, September 28,007, p. 32.In that context he uses also the non dogmatic interpretation of the works of Karl Marx made by the Spanish-Mexican philosopher Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez,Arturo Jiménez: Reivindica estudioso el marxismo crítico de Sánchez Vázquez y Bolívar Echeverría. In: La Jornada. Mexico City, September 28, 2007, p. 6a. and that made by the Horkheimer-successor Alfred Schmidt.Jordi Magnet Colomer: Fragmentos de Frankfurt. Ensayos sobre la Teoría crítica. In: Oxímora. Revista internacional de ética y política, Barcelona, spring 2014, pp. 126-132, here: p. 127.
In 2018 participes in the process for the election of the new director for the Institut für Sozialorschung in Frankfurt.Stefan Gandler: Konzept zur Entwicklung des Forschungsprofils des Instituts für Sozialforschung, September 9, 2018.
In 2021 Gandler received the Bolívar Echeverría Prize from the International Herbert Marcuse Society for his book Marxismo crítico en México. Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez y Bolívar Echeverría.International Herbert Marcuse Society: Prizes & Awards
Main works
Books Wolfgang Pohrt, Klaus Bittermann, Stefan Gandler et al., Gemeinsam sind wir unausstehlich. Die Wiedervereinigung und ihre Folgen. Berlin: Edition Tiamat, 1990. 159 pp. (2nd edition: 1992). Peripherer Marxismus. Kritische Theorie in Mexiko. Argument, Hamburg/ Berlin 1999, , DNB 95744995X. Spanish translation: Marxismo crítico en México. Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez y Bolívar Echeverría. Translated by Stefan Gandler, with the collaboration of Max Rojas and Marco Aurelio García Barrios. Pref. by Michael Löwy. México, Fondo de Cultura Económica / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México / Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, 2007, . (2nd edition, updated, expanded and corrected. Pref. by Jorge Coelho Soares. México, Fondo de Cultura Económica / Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, 2025, ISBN 978-607-16-8956-6. E-book edition ). English translation: Critical Marxism in Mexico. Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez and Bolívar Echeverría. Translated by George Ciccariello-Maher and Stefan Gandler. Pref. by Michael Löwy. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2015, 467 pp. . Softcover edition: Haymarket Books, Chicago, 2016. . Expanded and updated new edition of the German original: Kritischer Marxismus in Mexiko. Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez und Bolívar Echeverría. Zu Klampen, Lüneburg 2023, . Materialismus und Messianismus. Zu Walter Benjamins Thesen "Über den Begriff der Geschichte". Bielefeld, Aisthesis, 2008, . Fragmentos de Frankfurt. Ensayos sobre la Teoría crítica. Siglo XXI Editores, México 2009, . (2nd edition, updated, expanded and corrected. Siglo XXI Editores, México 2025 ). German translation: Frankfurter Fragmente. Essays zur kritischen Theorie. Translated by Dorothea Hemmerling, Stefan Gandler. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 2013, . Patricia Palacios Sierra, Alfonso Serna Jiménez, Stefan Gandler, Modernidad y diferencia. Reflexiones conceptuales y estudios empíricos en género y territorio. México: Porrúa, 2010, . El discreto encanto de la modernidad. Ideologías contemporáneas y su crítica. Siglo XXI Editores / Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México 2013, . German translation: Der diskrete Charme der Moderne. Zeitgenössische Ideologien und ihre Kritik. Translated by Stefan Gandler. Pref. by Michael Löwy. Münster, Lit-Verlag, 2020, . Teoría crítica: imposible resignarse. Pesadillas de represión y aventuras de emancipación. (Ed.) Miguel Ángel Porrúa / Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México 2016, . Teoría crítica desde las Américas. (Ed.) Miguel Ángel Porrúa / Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México 2021, .
Essays Tesis sobre diferencia e identidad. In: Dialéctica. Revista de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Puebla, year 23, no. 32, spring 1999, pp. 109–116. . English translation: Difference and identity. In: Lo Straniero. Journal of IMISE, Naples, year 14, no. 29, May 1999, pp. 16–18. . Italian translation: Dialettica dell'identità. Translated by Nunzia Augeri. In: Marxismo oggi. Rivista quadrimestrale di cultura e politica. Milano: Teti Editore, Jan.-April 2006, no. 1, pp. 48–57. . Turkish translation: Kimlik diyalektiği. Translated by Denize Kanit. In: Felsefelogos, Bulut Yayınevi, Istanbul, year 10, no. 30/31, 2006-2/3, pp. 321–326. . Mestizaje cultural y ethos barroco. Una reflexión intercultural a partir de Bolívar Echeverría. In: Itinerarios. Revista de estudios lingüísticos, literarios, históricos y antropológicos, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, Instituto de Estudios Ibéricos e Iberoamericanos, no. 4, 2001, pp. 77–98. . German translation: Zum Ethos-Begriff in der heutigen lateinamerikanischen Philosophie. In: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, November 2006, year 54, no. 5, pp. 767–783. . ¿Por qué el Ángel de la Historia mira hacia atrás? In: Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana. Revista internacional de Filosofía Iberoamericana y Teoría Social, Maracaibo, Venezuela Universidad del Zulia, año 8, númº20, enero-marzo 2003, pp. 7–39. . French translation: Pourquoi l'ange de l'histoire regarde-t-il vers l'arrière? Translated by Marc Sagnol. In: Les Temps Modernes. Paris, year 58, no. 624, May–June–July 2003, , pp. 54–74. English translation: The Concept of History in Walter Benjamin's Critical Theory. In: Radical Philosophy Review. Radical Philosophy Association, San Francisco, CA, vol. 13, no. 1, 2010, , pp. 19–42. Italian translation: "Perché l'angelo della storia guarda indietro?" In: Marxismo oggi. Rivista quadrimestrale di cultura e politica, Milano, Teti Editore, spring 2004, no. 1, pp. 111–134. Czech translation: Proč se anděl dějin hledí zpět? In: Filosofický časopis. Filosofický ústav Akademie věd České republiky. Prague, Czech Republic, year 55, no. 5, fall 2007, pp. 645–671 (abstract) (complete text) Turkish translation: Tarih Meleği Neden Geriye Bakiyor? In: Cogito. Üç Aylık Düşünce Dergisi, Istanbul, Turkey, Yapi Kredi Yayinlari, no. 52, fall 2007, pp. 161-181 (part 1)., Tarih Meleği Neden Geriye Bakiyor? II. Bölüm. In: Cogito, no. 59, summer 2009 (part 2). Chinese translation: ¿Quién es Bolívar Echeverría?. In: La Jornada Semanal, supplement of La Jornada. México, no. 805, August 8, 2010, pp. 5–7. English translation, resumed: In: International Sociology. Journal of the International Sociological Association. Sage, London, vol. 26, no. 2, March 2011, , pp. 266–267. Razón, sociedad y Estado en la Filosofía del Estado de Hegel. In: Carlos Oliva Mendoza (ed.), Hegel: la ciencia de la experiencia. México: UNAM, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, 2010, pp. 139–161. .