Honorary Prize for Catalan Literature to the philosopher Pere Lluís Font

BarcelonaThe historian of philosophy, theologian and translator Pere Lluís Font (Pujalt, 1934) has just been recognized with the 57th Honorary Prize for Catalan Literature, endowed with 20,000 euros and sponsored annually by Òmnium Cultural. In addition to having been a university professor for four decades, Font was one of the driving forces behind the prestigious collection. Philosophical texts –first in Laia, and then in Edicions 62–, has translated Kant, Pascal, Montaigne and Spinoza into Catalan and has written books such as From Sibiuda to Pascal, passing through Montaigne and Descartes (Pages, 2014) and Philosophy of Religion: Six Essays and a Note (Fragmenta, 2017). "He has been one of the most important and unique philosophers on our scene, an active intellectual for more than fifty years, and who has also left numerous disciples," stated Xavier Antich, president of Òmnium, during the ceremony where the award was announced. "Fuente also stands out for his civic commitment, his exemplary ethics in the defense of tolerance and his participation in numerous collective initiatives linked to thought," added Antich, who emphasized the importance of recognizing a philosopher with the Honorary Prize for the first time: "A culture cannot be complete if it does not take thought into account."

"I didn't know I was so good," were Pere Lluís Font's first words, spoken with a smile. "The whole of my writings reveals a double passion: Catalonia, used in the broad sense of the nation – which includes all the Catalan Countries – and philosophy," he added, before admitting that the word philosopher It's too much for him: "I've taught philosophy, but the great masters are creators, and in no way can I compare myself to them. For a long time, in the Països Catalans, philosophy hasn't had its own dynamic; it's been subordinated to Spain." Font's commitment, both in the classroom and in books and translations, has always been to the Catalan language. "Each language is a vision of the world; you don't have to be a romantic to realize that," he explained. "Language is the nerve of the nation, and without it we would lose the country."

"I'm from Pujalt, in Pallars Sobirà, from a very humble house, Casa Jordi, with a purely subsistence economy—"He recently recalled in an interview in the ARA–. As a matter of interest, at the end of the 19th century, the family expenses for an entire year were 219 pesetas. I came into contact with philosophy at the Seu d'Urgell seminary. But the counter-reformation atmosphere there made me buckle." From Toulouse, Font earned a degree in philosophy while paying for his studies by unloading trucks at night. "Like the worm of theology continued to work inside me," he added, "the only layman." It was there that he began to delve deeper into the triad of thinkers that has accompanied him ever since: Montaigne, Pascal, and Descartes.

Thought and Dignity

Settled in Barcelona again in 1963, Pere Lluís Font taught the history of ancient philosophy, first at the University of Barcelona (1963-1968) and later at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​​​where he taught the history of modern philosophy and the philosophy of religion until his retirement in 2004. Xavier Antich–. In addition to rigor, conviction and modesty, he has always been accompanied by irony, the great antidote to the arrogance of thought.

In parallel to teaching, he promoted the rebirth of the Catalan Society of Philosophy (1980), and also, together with Josep Calsamiglia and Josep Ramoneda, the collection Philosophical Texts, which started in 1981. "Calsamiglia only got to see the first volume," he recalls. "Ramoneda, who was already very busy, gave me his confidence, for which I am very grateful. I practically carried the weight of the entire collection. There were 97 titles. The last was a Frei, neither in the original language nor in our own. We started it with the publishing house Laia, until it collapsed because the manager disappeared with all the money. Then, thanks to Josep M. Castellet, Edicions 62 followed." The collection Philosophical Texts He published fundamental books by Kant, Schopenhauer, Hume, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Fichte and Descartes, some available for the first time in Catalan.

Thanks to the translations by Pere Lluís Font, we can read key works of modern thought in Catalan, such as Discourse on the method, by René Descartes (Ediciones 62, 1996); Critique of Practical Reason, ofImmanuel Kant (Editions 62, 2003), and Thoughts and pamphlets, of Blaise Pascal (Adesiara, 2021), which received the National Translation Prize and which Xavier Antich has compared to what Carles Riba did with theOdyssey of Homer. "Man is but a reed, the weakest of nature; but he is a thinking reed [...]. Even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than that which kills him, since he knows that he dies, and of the advantage that the universe has over him, the universe knows nothing, he thinks, who has just published the Catalan version of the Essential poems of San Juan de la Cruz (Fragmenta, 2025). "It is a translation that respects rhyme, rhythm and meaning and constitutes a milestone of the height of Comedy "of Sagarra," admits the volume's editor, Ignasi Moreta.

Font's significant late work

"Pere Lluís Font has spent his entire life reading, thinking, and teaching how to think, educating the critical sensibility of thousands of students during more than 8,000 hours of class," summarized Xavier Antich. For Font, also in the words of the president of Òmnium Cultural, "philosophy is not just a job, but a way of life, and the study of modernity, which has been its focus, has been an attitude defined by the demand for critical rationality: thinking, to a large extent, is rethinking, and the history of philosophy is."

Font's own work has blossomed over the last fifteen years, with titles such as Confession (Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​​​2004), Joan Maragall or civil conscience, in his time and ours (Clare, 2008), Immanuel Kant: Six Essays and a Dialogue from Beyond the Grave (Arpa, 2016) and Philosophy of Religion: Six Essays and a Note (Fragmenta, 2017). He is currently finishing a new essay, Philosophy in nature, which will soon be co-published by the University of Barcelona and the University of Lleida. "I'm working in a minor key because my health has been failing for the past two years," he admitted. "Even so, working helps you live. Right now I'm putting my papers in order, of which there are many, because over the course of a life like mine, they accumulate. I'm sure something will come out."

Regarding how he sees the world today, Font recalled that "you always have to be tolerant of people, but not necessarily of all ideas." "Philosophy may or may not be good, but anti-philosophy is always reactionary," he stated later. "We must continue to defend philosophy as a secondary school subject because it is also a trade to be learned."

Established in 1969, the Honor Prize for Catalan Letters has distinguished authors such as Pere Calders, Mercè Rodoreda, Joan Coromines, Joan Fuster, Jaume Cabré, Miquel Martí y Pol, Montserrat Abelló, Teresa Pàmies over the course of almost six decades. In the last three editions it has distinguished Albert JanéJosep Piera and Antonia Vicens. Pere Lluís Font will receive the 57th Honorary Prize for Catalan Literature at the Palau de la Música on June 2.