Heidegger in Mexico: Emilio Uranga’s ontological hermeneutics Carlos Alberto Sanchez Published online: 6 November 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008 Abstract ‘‘Exiled’’ Spanish philosopher Jose ´ Gaos was the first to translate, in its entirety, Martin Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit. Emilio Uranga, a student of Gaos in Mexico City (exiled since 1938), appropriates Heidegger’s ontological her- meneutics in an effort to expose the historico-existential structures making up ‘‘lo mexicano,’’ or Mexicanness. Uranga’s Ana´lisis del ser del mexicano (1952) freely and creatively employs the methods of existential analysis, suggesting that the being-there of the Mexican being is ontologically ‘‘insufficient’’ and ‘‘acci- dental’’—modes of being reflected in existential expressions of sentimentality, indifference, and angst particular to this form of life. As a work indebted to Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit, Analysis of the Being of the Mexican fails to be faithful to this method. This, however, is the source of its value. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: one, to introduce the Anglo–American philosophical readership to Uranga’s existential phenomenology; and, two, to disentangle the lines of thought that make up Uranga’s Ana´lisis and in the process defend Uranga from the possible charge that he ignorantly misappropriates Heidegger’s method. Keywords Mexican philosophy Á Heidegger Á Existential phenomenology 1 Diaspora, Being and Time, and Mexican philosophy During the 1930s and 1940s the Spanish Civil War forced many of Spain’s brightest into exile. These exiles found sanctuary throughout the Americas, but were C. A. Sanchez (&) San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192-0096, USA e-mail: carlosasanchez@sbcglobal.net 123 Cont Philos Rev (2008) 41:441–461 DOI 10.1007/s11007-008-9090-9