Hugo Herrera (Chilean philosopher)

{{short description|Chilean philosopher}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Hugo Herrera

| image =

| caption =

| office1 = Director of Diego Portales University Philosophy Institute

| term_start1 = 15 January 2015

| term_end1 = 9 January 2020

| office2 = President of the University of Valparaiso Students' Federation

| term_start2 = March 1995

| term_end2 = December 1995

| successor2 = Pablo Badenier

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1974|2|5|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Vina del Mar, Chile

| party = Unión Demócrata Independiente
(1993–1997)
Close to Renovación Nacional
(2018–present)

| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list|University of Valparaíso (B.A. in Laws, 1998)|University of Wurzburg (Ph.D. in Philosophy, 2004)}}

| occupation = Political thinker

| profession = Lawyer, Philosopher

| footnotes =

| module = {{Infobox philosopher|embed = yes

| influences = {{flatlist|

• Martin Heidegger
• Mario Góngora
• Francisco Antonio Encina
• Luis Galdames
• Alberto Edwards
• Carl Schmitt
• Ferdinand Tönnies
• Ludwig Klages
• Johann Gottlieb Fichte
• Johann Gottfried Herder

}}

| influenced = Mario Desbordes

|school_tradition=National conservatism

|main_interests={{flatlist|

• German idealism
• Law
• Politics
• Science

}}

|notable_works=La derecha en la crisis del bicentenario

|region=Western philosophy

|era=Contemporary philosophy}}

}}

Hugo Eduardo Herrera Arellano (born 5 February 1974) is a Chilean lawyer, philosopher and scholar dedicated to the Philosophy of Right. Known as the theoretician of the Chilean "social right-wing", Herrera works as a professor at the Schools of Law of the Diego Portales University (UDP) and the University of Valparaíso (UV).

A former member of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) from 1993 to 1997,{{cite web|last=Minay C.|first=Sebastián|title=Irrumpieron entre los intelectuales del sector, se sumaron a "Chile Vamos" y hoy presentan texto que busca darle "relato"|url=https://segreader.emol.cl/2016/01/18/A/TS2RTQBB/light?gt=140152|access-date=24 August 2020|publisher=El Mercurio|date=18 January 2020}} Herrera is identified with centre-right politics, but proclaims to being distant from the neoliberal ideas of Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys. He has been described as "one of the most lucid and enlightened intellectuals from the Chilean right today".{{Cite web|url=https://www.cepchile.cl/cep/site/docs/20160304/20160304101330/rev138_RCristi.pdf|title=¿Una derecha republicana?, 138, p. 217|last=Cristi|first=Renato|date=2014|work=Estudios Públicos|access-date=14 June 2020|archive-date=14 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614214248/https://www.cepchile.cl/cep/site/docs/20160304/20160304101330/rev138_RCristi.pdf|url-status=dead}} He has also been classified by the libertarian Axel Kaiser as being close in thought to Chilean nationalism,{{cite web|first=Axel|last=Kaiser|title=No más socialismo|url=https://www.elcato.org/no-mas-socialismo|publisher=Cato Institute|date=7 March 2017|access-date=19 October 2020}} but Herrera prefers to pigeonhole himself into a "national-popular tradition", and within which he mainly rescues works of Alberto Edwards or historians like Francisco Antonio Encina and Mario Góngora.

In 2015 he was an independent member of the Political Committee of Chile Vamos, a centre-right coalition whose then leader was Sebastián Piñera.{{cite web|url=http://www.udi.cl/organica-chile-vamos/|title=Orgánica "Chile Vamos"|access-date=31 December 2015|publisher=Unión Demócrata Independiente Official Website|date=December 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110416/http://www.udi.cl/organica-chile-vamos/|url-status=dead}} Nevertheless, he has criticized his own coalition for its "lack of political vision" related, according him, to the prevalence of economic discourse over any other.{{cite web|first=Rodrigo Karmy|last=Bolton|title=La segunda transición: Cartografías Intelectuales de la Derecha|url=https://www.eldesconcierto.cl/2019/10/14/la-segunda-transicion-cartografias-intelectuales-de-la-derecha/|publisher=El Desconcierto|language=es|date=14 October 2019|access-date=21 October 2020}} One of the politicians whom he has influenced in the coalition is Mario Desbordes of Renovación Nacional (RN),{{cite news|url=https://ellibero.cl/actualidad/ideologo-de-renovacion-nacional-el-presidente-puede-destacar-su-identidad-rn-orientando-su-gobierno-con-una-vision-politica-antes-que-economica/|title=Ideólogo de Renovación Nacional: "El Presidente puede destacar su identidad RN orientando su gobierno con una visión política antes que económica"|date=5 May 2018|publisher=El Líbero|access-date=19 March 2021|language=es}} although Desbordes does not recognize himself as being grounded in Herrera's theory.{{cite news|url=https://www.nuevopoder.cl/el-pensamiento-de-hugo-herrera-el-referente-intelectual-de-mario-desbordes/|title=El pensamiento de Hugo Herrera, referente intelectual de Mario Desbordes|date=26 December 2020|publisher=Nuevo Poder|work=Nuevopoder.cl|access-date=19 March 2021|language=es}} This influence became notorious after the Estallido Social (Social Outbreak; 2019–20 protests), where Desbordes was a key politician in the November 15th agreement{{cite news|url=https://www.latercera.com/politica/noticia/desbordes-rn-afirma-uno-dos-dias-alcanzar-una-salida-institucional-no-descarto-plebiscito-definir-mecanismo-constituyente/898779/?outputType=amp|title=Desbordes (RN) afirma que "hay uno o dos días" para alcanzar una salida a la crisis y que no descarta "un plebiscito" para definir el mecanismo constituyente|publisher=La Tercera|work=La Tercera|date=13 November 2019|access-date=19 March 2021|language=es}} to "Approve"{{cite news|url=https://www.elmostrador.cl/dia/2020/10/26/mario-desbordes-muchas-personas-de-centroderecha-votamos-por-el-apruebo/|title=Mario Desbordes: "Muchas personas de centroderecha votamos por el Apruebo"|publisher=|work=El Mostrador|date=26 October 2020|access-date=19 March 2021|language=es}}{{cite news|url=https://santiagotimes.cl/2020/10/26/chile-overwhelmingly-approves-constitutional-reform-with-a-specially-elected-assembly/|title=Celebrations as Chile approves historic constitutional reform|publisher=The Santiago Times|date=25 October 2020|access-date=19 March 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=61e1eb17-b1aa-470c-b7e5-98f1924a6ba2|title=A new Constitution for Chile: result of a plebiscite on 25 October 2020|publisher=Lexology|date=25 October 2020|access-date=19 March 2021}} a new constitution in the plebiscite to replace the 1980 constitution.

Herrera is a member of the board of several scientific journals, including the University of Valparaíso Journal of Social Sciences. He is a regular columnist in various Chilean press media, specifically the newspapers La Tercera,{{cite web|url=http://diario.latercera.com/2012/09/11/01/contenido/opinion/11-118180-9-derecha-en-crisis.shtml|title=La derecha en crisis|publisher=La Tercera|date=11 August 2012|access-date=20 March 2021|archive-date=24 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224164549/http://diario.latercera.com/2012/09/11/01/contenido/opinion/11-118180-9-derecha-en-crisis.shtml|url-status=dead}} La Segunda,{{cite web|url=http://blogs.lasegunda.com/redaccion/2012/07/19/la-renovacion-de-la-derecha.asp|title=Renovación de la derecha|publisher=La Segunda|date=19 August 2012|access-date=20 March 2021}} El Mercurio,{{cite web|url=http://www.elmercurio.com/blogs/2013/12/26/18133/La-derecha-ante-la-historia.aspx|title=La derecha ante la historia|publisher=El Mercurio|access-date=20 March 2021}} and El Mostrador.{{cite web|url=http://www.elmostrador.cl/autor/hugoherrera/|title=Lot of opinion columns "La crisis intelectual de la derecha"|publisher=El Mostrador|access-date=20 March 2021}}