In this Forefront of Research showcase, Miguel Ángel G. Calderón discusses his Spanish language philosophy blog, Filosofía en la Red, and their biannual digital magazine, Revista, which is now available in English for the first time. Filosofía en la Red is an online platform that seeks to generate and promote philosophy conducted in Spanish and build connections between Spanish and English-speaking philosophy communities.
What inspired Filosofía en la Red to start a magazine publication?
Filosofía en la Red is a platform, in Spanish, for philosophical dissemination. Its objectives are to share, spread and generate philosophy. Revista.FilosofíaenlaRed.com was created seeking to respond to this last wish, the “generation” of philosophy. Being a blog that is dedicated to philosophy is great, having content on networks is fantastic, but we needed something more: a magazine that would show that in addition to articles and reflections, philosophy authors on the web generate great philosophical content with academic impact.
What is Revista?
It is a biannual publication with articles by Filosofía en la Red´s authors with a slightly more “academic” tint. The Filosofía en la Red website publishes informative texts every day, but we needed a space to do philosophy in the traditional way, with a magazine. This is how the concept was born: beautifully edited, revised texts that encourage the reader to reflect. And of course, following the spirit of Philosophy on the Net, without a dossier or a specific topic, allowing the authors to reflect openly on a range of subjects.
What sort of work do you seek to highlight in Revista?
We seek to offer the world the Spanish-speaking feeling. The texts are originally published in Spanish and offer a clear reflection of their authors: great philosophers who feel and reflect in Spanish, but that does not distance them from the world. I think the translated issue is a great opportunity for English speakers to get closer to philosophy conducted in Spanish, so that the line that usually separates us by language is blurred and strong bonds of unity may be drawn.
Tell us more about your previous issues? Why did you decide to present an English-translated version?
Language is often a barrier to knowledge. Although Spanish is a popular language, it does not carry the same impact as English. The idea of translating our magazine is to show the world that great philosophy is done in Spanish, but that, precisely because of the language, not everyone can access it. Offering our first issue, fully translated in English, pursues this objective: to bring knowledge and philosophical reflection to all corners, eliminating physical and language barriers.
Filosofía en la Red has an ongoing partnership with the Blog of the APA. What was the motivation behind republishing translated posts from the APA on Filosofía en la Red?
Many times, as I have mentioned, language is a barrier, both for others to know us and for us to know them. And from here comes the idea of translating texts from the APA blog: bringing the extraordinary texts produced by the APA blog to Spanish speakers who do not speak English. It is a crime to allow only “a few” to read them, we must seek that everyone can access the content, without barriers.
Are readers invited to submit pieces for consideration?
No, at least not for now. The magazine was born with the idea of being a celebration, a recognition. A way to reward the authors who month after month maintain and nurture our website. Thus, with the publication of “denser and more academic” texts, they show the world that they not only disseminate but also generate philosophy.
What challenges did you face in starting the magazine?
A long time ago, in my youth, I used Microsoft Publisher (I always had the soul of an editor). In fact, I published some “magazines” (very simple periodicals) on theology, but the technologies have since changed. It did not make sense to pay a for a license for a publishing program (as Filosofía en la Red isn´t lucrative), so for the first issue I used Canva as the design program. It was quite a challenge because as the page number increased the workflow became slow as Canva is entirely a web application. For issue #2 in Spanish and this first issue in English, I bought Affinity Publisher (I invested out of pocket, but I preferred this one-time payment to an Adobe membership): the challenge was that I had to learn to use the program, right from the start.
What challenges currently exist for the magazine?
Filosofía en la Red is a dissemination platform with many arms: our website, the central axis; multimedia content on social networks -mainly Instagram-, a podcast with two programs, and a YouTube channel. Coordinating all this is a challenge, to which we added the Magazine. Although this is exciting of course, and that six months of separation between issues seems like enough, in the end, it seems to fall short. That is the main challenge: to combine our various workflows so that everything continues to work as before. Likewise, I would love to be able to obtain an ISSN, but not being an organization, it is somewhat complicated. However, very interesting things will still be coming. One great surprise that I can share with you as an exclusive is that we will be offering our first physical edition of the Spanish version soon. It will be offered through Amazon to reach more and more people, with an ISBN involved.
What sort of reception has the magazine received/ what sort of reception are you hoping this collection of papers will have?
The launch last October was spectacular; and not that long ago. In June, issue #2 came out in Spanish. Both issues have received very good reviews and celebration of their content. This is exciting because without a doubt they reflect the great commitment and capacity of their authors. With this new edition, in English, I wholeheartedly wish to break down barriers, for authors to position themselves on the world map of philosophy and for Filosofía en la Red to become a benchmark that from a blog, (which may be simple but with many hours of work behind it) you can, and do, produce philosophy of quality.
Interested in reading Revista? The translation of Revista’s first issue can be downloaded here. Subscribe to their website or follow Filosofía en la Red on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook to be notified when the translation of their second issue becomes available.
Miguel Ángel G. Calderón
Miguel Ángel G. Calderón is CEO of Filosofía en la Red. He holds a bachelor's degree in organizational psychology and is currently studying for a master's degree in philosophy and values. Previously, he also spent time studying religious sciences, law, and nursing.
Maryellen Stohlman-Vanderveen is the APA Blog's Diversity and Inclusion Editor and Research Editor. She graduated from the London School of Economics with an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy in 2023 and currently works in strategic communications. Her philosophical interests include conceptual engineering, normative ethics, philosophy of technology, and how to live a good life.
