In the year marking five centuries since the intellectual impulse that gave rise to the School of Salamanca —and the parallel flourishing of juridical and theological studies in Coimbra and Évora— I assume the direction of Escuela Hispánica with a clear conviction: our intellectual community is not born of nostalgia, but of responsibility.
Spain, Portugal, and Ibero-America share a historical and intellectual lineage that has decisively contributed to reflection on freedom, law, the dignity of the person, and political order. It is a tradition deeply marked by the catholicity of its intellectual horizon, which not only developed in the Iberian and Ibero-American world but also projected itself toward other territories historically linked to that same cultural community. This legacy, however, remains largely dispersed, insufficiently studied, or eclipsed by narratives that have relegated its contribution to the background.
Escuela Hispánica is born precisely from the certainty that the rigorous examination of our common past —with an eye on the future— not only strengthens the bonds between our nations but enriches the contemporary political, cultural, and juridical debate. In this line, for example, the 1776 Project, currently underway, studies the presence of the Hispanic intellectual tradition in the United States Declaration of Independence, aiming to illuminate the Atlantic projection of our political and juridical thought.
Our task cannot be limited to mere opposition to ideological currents contrary to freedom. The defense of life, human dignity, and the flourishing of our societies demands deeper foundations. It demands rediscovering, studying, and updating a body of thought that, while neither linear nor homogeneous, constitutes an intellectual tradition of enormous richness.
History, tradition, and faith are part of that substrate. But so is a political and juridical reflection that developed with particular vigor in the Iberian and American sphere, and that deserves to be known in all its depth and complexity.
In this new stage, we want to consolidate Escuela Hispánica as a stable space for research, dialogue, and public engagement. A place where academics, researchers, and professionals can work with rigor, publish, debate, and collaborate in the recovery and updating of this tradition.
It is not just about vindicating a past. It is about putting it at the service of the present and the future.
For this, we need community. We need institutions, researchers, and collaborators committed to this common task.
I invite all those who share this vocation to join Escuela Hispánica and to participate actively in this stage of consolidation and growth.
