Latin American Philosophy An Introduction with Readings

by Nuccetelli, Susana; Seay, Gary

• ISBN13: 9780130485168
• ISBN10: 0130485160
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-06-10
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This book offers the reflections of Latin American thinkers on the nature of philosophy, justice, human rights, cultural identity, and other issues that have faced them from the colonial period to the present day. Most of the essays are short and easy to readmaking them accessible to readers with little or no philosophical background.This book presents readers with philosophical ideas about present-day controversies such as poverty, racism, the equality of women, and the distribution of wealth.For anyone interested Latin American philosophy and the development of philosophy in Latin America.

Table of Contents

(NOTE: Each chapter begins with an Introduction.)
1. Knowledge and Reason in Pre-Columbian Cultures.

Christianity Reaches Merida, The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel translated and annotated by Munro S. Edmonson. The Birth of Philosophy among the Nahuas, Miguel León-Portilla. Florentine Codex, Fray Bernardino de Sahagún.

2. European Thinkers For and Against the Conquest.

Prologue to the Members of the Congregation, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda. Biographical Addenda to The Only Way, Bartolomé de Las Casas. On the Indians and the Law of War, Francisco de Vitoria. Against the Black Legend, Roberto Fernández Retamar.

3. The Critical Tradition in Latin American Thought.

The Natural and Moral History of the Indies, José de Acosta. The Idea of Discovery of America, Edmundo O'Gorman. Reply to Sor Philothea, Juana Inés de la Cruz. The Erotic in Latin America, Enrique D. Dussel.

4. Problems of Political Philosophy in the New Latin Nations of America.

The Jamaica Letter, Simón Bolívar. The Physical Aspect of Argentina and Ideas Induced by It, Domingo F. Sarmiento. Bases and Starting Points for the Organization of the Nation, Juan Bautista Alberdi. Is Latin America Ready for Democracy? Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre.

5. The Influence of Positivist Thought in Latin America.

Positivism in Latin America, Arturo Ardao. The Advent of Positivism in Brazil, Joâo Cruz Costa. Positivism and Porfirism in Mexico, Leopoldo Zea. Ariel, José Enrique Rodó.

6. Wealth and Poverty in Modern Hispanic America.

Our America, José Martí. Indians, Land, and Religion in Peru, José Carlos Mariátegui. Science and Technology, José Comblín. Science, Technology, Power, and Liberation Theology, Leonardo Boff.

7. Latin American Philosophy and Latino Identity.

Man and Culture, Francisco Romero. The Cosmic Race, José Vasconcelos. Is There a Brazilian Philosophy? Afranio Coutinho. Is There an Ibero-American Philosophy? Risieri Frondizi. Can Hispanic Philosophy Flourish in the USA? Jorge Gracia.

Excerpts

Educated readers in the United States today are often familiar with some of the traditional literature and topics of Western philosophy. Very little is known, however, about the development of philosophy in Latin America. Is there, indeed, a Latin American philosophy at all? What exactly is characteristically Latin American in the way intellectuals in Hispanic America have reflected on philosophical issues? This volume intends to provide some answers to questions of this sort by making available in the English-speaking world the writings of Latin American thinkers on a variety of philosophical problems. We do believe that there is a characteristically Latin American philosophy, and ample evidence of its existence can be seen in the materials included here. We hope that some familiarity with the works of las Casas, Sor Juana, Sarmiento, and others will make it abundantly clear that Latin American thinkers score high in both originality and sensitivity to live issues of philosophical concern that have arisen in the subcontinent.At the same time, we do not regard the existence of a characteristically Latin American philosophy as incompatible with the claim that there are some problems of philosophy that have a universal import. For, traditionally construed, philosophy can be taken to consist in a core of great controversies over fundamental questions, together with numerous branches of "applied" philosophy (e.g., biomedical ethics, environmental ethics, and philosophy of law), where the elements of a general theory are analyzed more narrowly in connection with specific uses or contexts. Latin American philosophy could thus be thought of as another of these branches. Unfortunately, many supporters of thisuniversalistconception of philosophy who accept such applied branches as part of the subject are nonetheless skeptical about the existence of a Latin American philosophy. To us, any such skepticism could only rest on inadequate factual information about the intellectual history of the subcontinent or--worse--raise suspicions of a double standard at work. As far as we are concerned, if there is a role for philosophical analysis in thinking about the problems that arise in the practice of medicine, law, and public policy, then why not also in thinking about the issues that have arisen in the experiences of Latinos?The thesis that there is a characteristically Latin American philosophy is supported in this book by evidence that philosophy in the Spanishand Portuguese-speaking Americas has gone beyond merely borrowing from major Western philosophical methodologies and schools of thought. A careful reading of the selections included here reveals that, from the colonial period to the present day, Latinos have devoted serious thought to philosophical puzzles arising in their own historical and social contexts, and often proposed original arguments to resolve them. Whether those who applied themselves to these intellectual exercises were trained philosophers, as all practitioners of the discipline are now expected to be, does not matter to us. Although it has been only in the twentieth century that academic philosophers in Latin America have achieved a status similar to those in the Northern hemisphere, Latino intellectuals had long before that been concerned with problems of social and political philosophy, ethics, and even feminist epistemology. Sor Juana's vigorous defense of women's right to knowledge, Acosta's rebellion against Aristotelian science, Mariategui's discussion of theindigenousquestion, and the works of other thinkers represented in this volume speak for themselves. Whether or not these thinkers had formal training in philosophy, readers willing to put aside any preconceptions about that discipline will find in their writings extraordinarily rich material for philosophical reflection.Needless to say, no single volume could do justice to either the breadth of philosophi