José Guilherme Merquior

Infobox_Philosopher
region = Western Philosophy
era = 20th-century philosophy
name = José Guilherme Merquior


imagesize = 175px
birth = birth date|1941|04|22 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
death = death date and age|1991|01|7|1941|04|229 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
school_tradition = Liberalism
occupation = Diplomat, Philosopher, Literary critic, Sociologist, Anthropologist, Columnist
main_interests = Literary criticism, History of ideas, Aesthetics, Politics, Sociology, International relations
influences = Ernest Gellner, Walter Benjamin, Leszek Kołakowski, Karl Jaspers, Karl Marx, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Gilberto Freyre, Benjamin Constant, Roberto de Oliveira Campos

José Guilherme Merquior (Rio de Janeiro, April 22 1941 — Rio de Janeiro, January 7, 1991) was a Brazilian diplomat, academic, writer, literary critic and philosopher. He divided his published works in two segments; in one the bulk was criticism "per se"; in the other the emphasis was the history of ideas, or more specific investigations like the highly-esteemed study of Rousseau and Weber.

He was a prolific writer, and member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras (the Brazilian Academy of Letters). He had a doctorate in sociology from the London School of Economics, which was directed by Ernest Gellner. Merquior also studied under Lévi-Strauss, and took guidance from the likes of Raymond Aron, Harry Levin, and Arnaldo Momigliano. He published books written directly in French, English, Italian, and his native Portuguese.

Books by Merquior

:"Published in portuguese"
* 1963: Poesia do Brasil, (antologia com Manuel Bandeira)
* 1965: Razão do Poema
* 1969: Arte e Sociedade em Marcuse, Adorno e Benjamin
* 1972: A astúcia da mímese
* 1972: Saudades do Carnaval
* 1974: Formalismo e tradição moderna
* 1975: O estruturalismo dos pobres e outras questões
* 1975: A estética de Lévi-Strauss
* 1976: Verso e universo de Drummond
* 1977: De Anchieta a Euclides
* 1980: O fantasma romântico e outros ensaios
* 1981: As idéias e as formas
* 1982: A natureza do processo
* 1983: O argumento liberal
* 1983: O elixir do Apocalipse
* 1985: Michel Foucault ou O niilismo da cátedra
* 1987: O marxismo ocidental
* 1990: Crítica
* 1990: Rousseau e Weber: dois estudos sobre a teoria da legitimidade
* 1991: De Praga a Paris: uma crítica do estruturalismo e do pensamento pós-estruturalista
* 1991: O liberalismo, antigo e moderno
* 1997: O véu e a máscara

:"Published in english"
* 1979: The veil and the mask: Essays on culture and ideology
* 1980: Rousseau and Weber: Two studies in the theory of legitimacy
* 1987: From Prague to Paris: A Critique of Structuralist and Post-Structuralist Thought
* 1991: Western Marxism
* 1991: Liberalism, Old and New
* 1991: Foucault

:"Published in french"
* 1986: Foucault ou le nihilisme de la chaire

:"Published in spanish"
* 1996 Liberalismo Viejo y Nuevo
* 2005 El Comportamiento de Las Musas

:"In memoriam"
* 1996 Liberalism in Modern Times - Essays in Honour of José G. Merquior. Edited by Ernest Gellner and César Cansino