Alejandro Llano during the event. PHOTO: Manuel Castells

"Alejandro Llano has carried out a work, not only professor or research, but which can be defined as authentically university. He has contributed with his personality to enrich the University inwardly and to increase its luster outwardly". This was emphasized by the President of the University of Navarra, Ángel J. Gómez-Montoro, on the occasion of the tribute to Full Professor of the School of Philosophy and Letters.

Rafael Alvira and the protagonists of the last book of the honoree, Caminos de Philosophy. Interview with Lourdes Flamarique, Marcela García and José María Torralba. The book gathers conversations held with his disciples and reviews his philosophical work, the issues that have occupied him in recent years and the questions that remain open.

The President affirmed that "the University of Navarra has a debt that is difficult to pay, but which the Chancellor has recently recognized by awarding Professor Llano the Gold Medal". He also underlined "his constant work researcher " and "his mastery of the pen and the richness of his Spanish". All this, together with his intense teaching and research, have made him "a true university teacher". "Alejandro put his affection and his illusion in a project that was worthwhile. For this reason, today we can say with certainty that his has been a successful life, because he has served much and loved much".

Watch video Rafael Alvira.

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For his part, Rafael Alvira, Full Professor of Philosophy, highlighted his "multifaceted personality with a wealth of contrasts". He also said that "Alejandro Llano cannot be portrayed without the reference letter to Metaphysics, to which he has dedicated his intelligence and his best efforts" and assured that "his work allows us to count him among the true metaphysicians". "Llano never writes in the first person, because a true philosopher always seeks to leave the word to the truth and, at the same time, he always writes in the first person, because it is only possible to know the truth when you try to make it your own," Rafael Alvira said.

Disciples and school

Finally, the honoree himself explained that his professional life has been spent "very much within" the University, not only as researcher and professor of Philosophy, but also as a delegate, Associate Dean, Dean or President. The Philosophy and Education are the tasks "to which I will continue to dedicate myself for as long as God grants me to live," he stressed. In this sense," he added, "I have never tried to 'make group' or create something like a school. I believe that the first rule of a university institution should be the prohibition of inbreeding". In spite of this, "I am proud of those who learned something in my classes or in their doctoral thesis , and now they are the ones who teach me. Because they understand me better than I understand and explain myself".

Alejandro Llano is Full Professor of Metaphysics at the University of Navarra. In 1976 he obtained the Chair of Metaphysics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and in 1977 he joined the University of Navarra, where he was Dean of the School of Philosophy and Letters (1981-1989) and President (1991-1996). He is currently president of the high school of Anthropology and Ethics and professor of Philosophy in this academic center.