Utopia and revolution: Doing and undoing ethics in Latin America

There is a story a Peruvian professor told the class when I was beginning my studies in philosophy. It is about a renowned European philosopher who, in the second half of the 20th century, came to Latin America as a guest speaker. Which philosopher and which country, I regrettably do not recall, but in the final analysis, it does not make a difference. After witnessing the level of poverty and related problems that most people faced, this philosopher commented to his local “Latino” peers something along these lines: “You are doing metaphysics? You should be doing ethics!” Was he right? Was he condescending? Regardless, the anecdote gets to the heart of our topic: Doing ethics in Latin America.