Estanislao Zuleta

Estanislao Zuleta (1935 in Medellín, Antioquia – 1990 in Cali, Valle) was a Latin American philosopher, writer and professor from Colombia. He was known especially for his works on the universities being a professor for all his life. More important than his writings, Zuleta is remembered by his conferences that were carefully recorded by his colleagues and pupils and published several times during his life and after his death in 1990. He dedicated especially to philosophy, Latin American economy, psychology and education. He let treaties on ancient and modern thinkers of a rich social and historical analysis over the Latin American cultural context. He was an adviser in the United Nations, the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture, the Colombian Institute for the Agrarian Reform (Incora), an adviser of former president Belisario Betancur Cuartas and a writer for Crisis Magazine of Medellín. He was rewarded by the Honoris Causa in psychology of University of Valle in 1980. The Estanislao Zuleta Foundation is the institution that keeps and promotes the legacy of the Colombian philosopher.

Zuleta was born in Medellín on February 3, 1935 from a family of intellectuals. His father died on June 24, 1935 in the same plane crash that killed the famous Tango composer and singer Carlos Gardel in his visit to the Colombian Andean city. He was also a disciple of the Colombian philosopher Fernando González Ochoa.

Zuleta who was to be one of the most famous Colombian lecturers, abandoned the school when he was just a teenager to become an autodidact. This led to a serious and passionate study philosophy reading many of the classics of universal philosophy, literature, history, art and social science. His deep knowledge the material read was expressed in his articles, books and his memorable conferences given in many universities of the nation.