"The plans for sustainable development assume ethical principles that belong to the field of Philosophy. Questions that seem obvious to us and which in the past were not obvious may no longer be so for lack of a good philosophical Education ". This was stated at the University of Navarra by Enric Fernández Gel, creator of "Adictos a la Philosophy", a YouTube channel with more than 390,000 subscribers.

Fernández Gel, graduate in Philosophy by the academic centre, was in charge of giving the closing address lecture of the XII edition of the Excellence Programme, held on Saturday 12th March at the University, in which 437 students from 27 schools in Spain took part. The workshop was chaired by Julia Pavón, dean of the School of Philosophy and Letters; professors Dolores López and Aitor Blanco, academic directors of the programme; and Cristhian Mestre, director of development of the School.

Under degree scroll "Philosophy for sustainable sustainability", speaker has set out the reasons why he believes that the imbalance between the current emphasis on sustainability and Philosophy, "is not only inconsistent for the development of a sustainable development programme, but also dangerous". Why worry about a future we will not live in? Who are the most vulnerable and why should we care about them? Should we include non-human animals among the vulnerable? Yes, but not on the same level as people? "The proposal of sustainable development assumes that we have the answers to all these questions, but if you want to investigate and defend them you need to do Philosophy," he said.

From left to right: Enric Fernández Gel, Aitor Blanco, Julia Pavón, Dolores López and Cristhian Mestre. PHOTO: Manuel Castells

Fernández Gel also defended Philosophy as a means of satisfying one of the most basic human needs: to know. As he explained, in the face of modern science, which contributes to this in part, "there are still many questions that science cannot address due to its own method, and that does not mean that we stop wanting to know the answers. There are questions for which one needs Philosophy and this can serve as a place for interdisciplinary meeting ".

After the lecture, took place the submission of diplomas to the students who conclude the programme this year and to the schools that have completed 10 years as participants of Excellence. On behalf of the students of the twelfth promotion, Jezabel Sánchez Saavedra and David Sánchez Cid gave a thank you speech speech .

Sustainability has been the central topic of the 12th edition of Excellence, a programme coordinated by the School of Philosophy and Letters, which seeks to reinforce the cultural training of young people and their capacity to contribute to society. Throughout the course, in their respective centres, the students have reflected on the topic "Hope and sustainable future" and have carried out work on research which they have defended publicly at the closing ceremony of the programme. They have also received sessions at training given by 30 lecturers from different Schools and University centres. The last talks took place during the workshop and were given by Sarah Ceniceros and María José Gallucci, from the Writing Centre of the School of Philosophy and Letters; and by Jesús López Fidalgo, director of the high school of data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DATAI) of the University.