Jordán Bruno Genta

Born in Buenos Aires on October 2, 1909. He completed his secondary education at Colégio Nacional Mariano Moreno. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature at the University of Buenos Aires in 1933. The following year he began his teaching career at the Universidad Nacional del Litoral and at the Instituto del Profesorado de Paraná, where he taught Logic and Epistemology, Critique of Knowledge, Sociology and Metaphysics, subjects won by competition and antecedents. At the same time, he began a remarkable process of conversion to Christian philosophy, first, and to the Catholic faith, later.

In 1943 he was appointed Dean of the Universidad Nacional del Litoral and the following year he became rector of the Instituto del Profesorado de Buenos Aires, a position he held until his dismissal in May 1945. In 1946 he founded a private chair of philosophy, in which he even taught until his death on October 27, 1974. His works include Fundamental Problems of Philosophy, Political Sociology, Psychology Course, The Philosopher and the Sophists, The Idea and Ideologies, Examination and Communism, Counter-Revolutionary War, Christian Political Option, in addition to numerous newspaper articles, courses and conferences.

He was murdered on Sunday, October 27, 1974, on the doorstep of his home, as he was on his way out to attend Sunday Mass in a neighboring parish. A guerrilla command of the so-called “ERP 22 de Agosto” claimed responsibility for the crime. Jordan Bruno Genta went down making the sign of the cross. “Fallen by God and by the Fatherland, he taught with word, life and blood”, says the invitation to mass.

Genta's ideas influenced some sections of the military de facto governments, especially the National Reorganization Process (1976–1983). His staunch anti-communism and his contacts in the armed forces gained him some consideration from United States anti-communist operatives.