- Tenured Research Professor, Level D, SNI III
- Email: vaspe@up.edu.mx
- Profile:
Professor Virginia Aspe Armella holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Navarra and, since 1998, has been a professor of Mexican philosophy at Universidad Panamericana. She specializes in Aristotle, practical and productive reasoning, and political and social philosophy in Mexico. She is a full member of the Hispanic-American Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters (corresponding to the Royal Spanish Academy), as well as of the Mexican Academy of History and the National System of Researchers (Level III). She previously lectured in the graduate philosophy program at UNAM and has been a visiting scholar at Columbia University on four occasions. For her philosophical work, Dr. Aspe was awarded the Fray Alonso de la Veracruz Medal (2023) by the Philosophical Association of Mexico (AFILOMEX). She was also honoured as “Distinguished Guest” of the city of Salamanca on the occasion of the international conference marking the 500th anniversary of the School of Salamanca, where she delivered the closing lecture.
She has taught courses or presented as a guest speaker at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, the Popular Autonomous University of the State of Puebla, the National University of Cuyo (Argentina), New York University (NYU), the 2024 World Congress of Philosophy (Rome), and the 5th International Congress on Bartolomé de las Casas (Seville), among many other forums. She has also served on organizing committees for numerous international conferences in Mexico, such as the 16th International Congress of Classical Studies of the International Federation of Classical Studies Associations (2022) and the 12th International Conference on the Baroque (2025).
Her most recent books are Aristotle and New Spain (Routledge, 2025) and Approaches to the Theory of Freedom in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Aliosvientos-Colegio de Michoacán-UP, 2018). Other notable publications include “The Renaissance Reception of Nahua Paideia in the Writings of Bernardino de Sahagún: An Aesthetic Approach to Religion” (Religions, 12), “The Influence of the School of Salamanca in Alonso de la Vera Cruz’s De dominio infidelium et iusto bello” (in The School of Salamanca: A Case of Global Knowledge Production, Brill), “On the Greed and Extravagance of the Encomenderos in the Eighth Remedy by Bartolomé de las Casas” (Cauriensia, 15) and “The Political Dilemmas of Mexico’s Transformations: A Philosophical Approach” (Tópicos, Revista de Filosofía, 58).
Research Areas:
- Mexican Philosophy
- Reception of the Aristotelian Tradition
Research Projects
- Authority, Freedom, and Dominion in Mexico’s Transformations: An Examination of Fundamental Philosophical Arguments. Phase One: The Mexican Enlightenment of the 18th Century and the Early 19th Century.
- Authority, Freedom, and Dominion in Mexico’s Transformations: An Examination of Fundamental Philosophical Arguments. Part Two: Mexico’s Second Political Transformation (1848–1898): Background and Consequences.
- The Fundamental Philosophical Arguments Underlying Mexico’s Transformations: An Approach to the Third and Fourth Transformations (1903–2019)
- Cultural Manifestations of the Baroque: A Hermeneutics of a Cultural Category.
Link to publications: https://scripta.up.edu.mx/entities/person/vaspe
Awards: Fray Alonso de la Vera Cruz Medal, 2024, Mexican Philosophy Association