Latin American Philosophy

First published Wed Aug 14, 2013; substantive revision Mon Apr 2, 2018
In its most expansive sense, Latin American philosophy is philosophy produced in
Latin America or philosophy produced by persons of Latin American ancestry who
reside outside of Latin America. It is typically taken to exclude philosophy produced
in non-Iberian former colonies, with the occasional exception of former French
colonies in the Caribbean. Other names have also been used to refer to the whole or
part of Latin American philosophy, including Spanish American, Hispanic
American, Iberoamerican, and Latino/a philosophy. The first two refer specifically
to the philosophy of former Spanish colonies, the third to that of former Iberian
colonies, and the fourth to the philosophy produced in the United States by
descendants of Latin Americans.
Latin American philosophy is usually taken to have originated around 1550, when
Spanish conquerors founded the first schools in Latin America and began to teach
and publish philosophical treatises. Recently, there has been an effort on the part of
historians to include pre-Columbian thought in Latin American philosophy,
although the pre-Columbian texts cited are often fragmentary and religious in tone
and intention. In terms of traditions, style, and influence, post-Columbian Latin
American philosophy is part of the Western philosophical tradition. Indeed,
philosophical discussions in Latin America have and continue to be dominated by
European philosophical influences. Even those Latin American philosophers who
have endeavored to develop original theories have frequently framed their own
contributions in the terms of European thinkers. Partly in response to this
phenomenon, there has arisen a large body of literature concerned with the identity,
authenticity, and originality of Latin American philosophy.
Latin American philosophy has been both original and derivative. Much of its
history involves work that is derivative of European philosophical figures and
movements. At the same, time Latin American philosophy has produced important
philosophers, original approaches to old philosophical problems, and formulations
of new problems not already within the European philosophical tradition. Moreover,
virtually all historical European philosophical traditions have been present in Latin
America, as are most contemporary movements in the United States and Europe.
Finally, there has been a significant interest in social concerns among Latin
American philosophers, partly as a reaction to the social and economic
circumstances of Latin America. This has led Latin American philosophical work to
be comparatively more concerned with social issues than philosophy in, for
example, the United States.
The influence of Latin American philosophy outside of Latin America has thus far
been relatively small. Although the situation has been improving, very few Latin
American philosophers are currently read outside of Latin America. This situation is
made worse by the paucity of English-language translations of Latin American
philosophical works. Moreover, internal to Latin America, philosophers read and
respond to each other with less frequency than one might expect or wish. However,
the philosophy of liberation has had some impact both in North America and in
developing countries in Africa, and Latinos/as have participated actively in the
discussion of a variety of topics, especially those having to do with race, ethnicity,
and social identities in the United States. In the past few years, some of these
philosophers have occupied positions of leadership in the philosophical
establishment and their work has been the subject of discussion by prominent non-
Latino/a philosophers.
This article is divided into three main parts: history, the contemporary period, and
problems and topics. We begin with a sketch of the history of Latin American
philosophy.

• 1. History
• 2. The Contemporary Period
o 2.1 Rebellion and the Generation of Founders (1910–1940)
o 2.2 Normalcy and the Generation of 1910 (1940–1960)
o 2.3 Maturity (1960–present)
• 3. Problems and Topics
o 3.1 The Rights of Amerindians
o 3.2 The Identity of the People
o 3.3 Philosophical Anthropology
o 3.4 Latin America’s Philosophical Identity
o 3.5 Feminist Philosophy
• Bibliography
• Academic Tools
• Other Internet Resources
• Related Entries

1. History
The history of Latin American philosophy is usefully divided into five periods: Pre-
Columbian, Colonial, Independentist, Nationalist, and Contemporary (that is, the
twentieth century to the present). Most periods are characterized by the dominance
of a particular tradition: the Pre-Columbian by Amerindian religious cosmologies,
the Colonial by scholasticism, the Independentist by Early Modern philosophy and
Enlightenment thought, and the Nationalist by positivism. However, the
contemporary situation is more complex and varied. For that reason, it is discussed
in a separate and subsequent section, apart from the other historical periods that are
the focus of this section.
There is good evidence that in at least the major pre-Columbian civilizations there
were attempts to explore questions about the nature of reality, the limits of
knowledge, and the basis of right action. Moreover, such work persisted in various
forms for some time after the Conquest (Restrepo 2010; Maffie 2014). Whether this
body of work is rightly characterized as philosophy or something else is a disputed
matter, with scholars disagreeing about how best to characterize it (see Nuccetelli,
2001, ch. 3; Mignolo, 2003). It is clear that the reflective and speculative work of
pre-Columbian Amerindian peoples was undertaken without any familiarity with the
Western philosophical tradition. Those inquiries were also generally undertaken
within the religious frameworks of their places and times and the literary or
presentational modes in which such questions were entertained were typically
removed from traditional forms of European philosophical production.
Despite these differences with European philosophy, and despite the often
fragmentary and frequently second-hand information that survives concerning pre-
Columbian thought, extant works have nevertheless supported a variety of intriguing
and subtle accounts of those philosophical or proto-philosophical reflections.[1] Still,
the conventional view about the pre-Columbian period is that its reflections had little
to no impact on the indisputably philosophical intellectual production in the period
that immediately followed the Conquest.[2]
European-derived philosophy began in Latin America in the sixteenth century.
Among the most notable figures of this period is Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484–
1566), whose work on the rights of conquered Amerindians has had a particularly
important and long-lasting legacy. Scholasticism, introduced by the Spanish and
Portuguese clergy that arrived with the conquistadores, was the dominant
philosophical perspective. Most of the work produced during the first two centuries
in the colonies was cast in the framework used in the Iberian peninsula. It was
particularly indebted to the thought of both sixteenth-century Iberians and their
medieval predecessors. Important figures included Francisco Suárez (1548–1617)
and Francisco de Vitoria (1492–1546), and earlier medieval philosopher-
theologians, such as Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) and John Duns Scotus (1265/6–
1308). Most of these authors were born in the Iberian peninsula, but many of them
had settled in the colonies. Among the most important, apart from Las Casas, are
Alonso de la Vera Cruz (ca. 1504–84), who composed the first fully philosophical
treatises in Latin America, Tomás de Mercado (ca. 1530–1575), and Antonio Rubio
(1548–1615). Some of the works of these authors, such as Rubio’s Logica
mexicana, were known and used in Europe.
Humanism also had some influence, as is clear from the work of Juan de Zumárraga
(ca.1468–1548) and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–1695), among others. Sor
Juana has the distinction of being the first Latin American thinker to raise questions
concerning the status of women in Latin American society. She is also
retrospectively regarded as the first Latin American feminist writer and philosopher
(see also the section on feminist philosophy, below.)
The eighteenth century, under the influence of modern philosophy and the
Enlightenment, helped prepare the way for the revolutionary wars of independence.
Philosophical discussions of the time were dominated by political thought. Even so,
scholasticism continued to influence the intellectual class and stoked an ongoing
interest in traditional metaphysical questions. Authors such as Juan Benito Díaz de
Gamarra y Dávalos (1745–1783) and Francisco Javier Clavijero (1731–1787), both
from Mexico, were influenced by early modern philosophers such as René Descartes
(1596–1650). However, the wave of independentist thought found its greatest
inspiration in Enlightenment political philosophy. In particular, liberal political
ideals based on the thought of the French philosophes helped to consolidate
independentist views throughout Latin America. Among the significant Latin
American inheritors of that tradition were Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) in Venezuela
and Colombia, Miguel Hidalgo (1753–1811) and José María Morelos (1765–1815)
in Mexico, and much later, José Martí (1854–1895) in Cuba.
In the early 19th century, many Latin American countries secured independence
from European colonial powers. In the wake of independence, the newly liberated
peoples faced the challenge of forming stable, enduring nations out of the remnants
of the Spanish and Portuguese empires. The predominant political concerns of that
era included the organization and consolidation of the new nations, along with
aspirations for social stability, national integration of largely diverse peoples. The
overarching ambition in many nations was to achieve the same economic and social
progress enjoyed by other nations in Europe and North America.
In this context, the ideology of choice was a version of positivism. The positivist
motto, “order and progress,” which graces the Brazilian flag, suggests why
positivism was especially appealing in the context of nation building. Positivism’s
emphasis on both empirical science and pragmatic solutions appeared to provide a
practical foundation for attaining the diverse ends of the new nations. Indeed,
positivism became so influential and widely accepted by intellectuals that it became
the official state philosophy of several nations. It was even used to justify dictatorial
regimes, as in the case of Mexico.
Positivism of the Latin American variety was derived from a peculiar mix of
European ideas primarily originating in the thought of Auguste Comte (1798–1857),
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), and Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919). The period of
positivist hegemony, in which it was the dominant philosophical perspective in
Latin America, extended roughly from the middle of the nineteenth century to the
first decade of the twentieth. Among the most famous positivists were Gabino
Barreda (1818–1881) and Justo Sierra (1848–1912) in Mexico, José Victorino
Lastarria (1817–1888) in Chile, and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811–1888) in
Argentina. Andrés Bello (1781–1865), from both Venezuela and Chile, and Juan
Bautista Alberdi (1810–1884) and Esteban Echevarría (1805–1851), from
Argentina, were transitional figures between independentist liberal thought and
positivism. Later, José Ingenieros (1877–1925), from Argentina, and Enrique José
Varona (1849–1933), from Cuba, prepared the way for the revolt against positivism,
although their thought arose in a positivist context and maintained an alliance with
positivist ideas.

2. The Contemporary Period

Contemporary Latin American philosophy begins in the twentieth century, around
1910, coinciding with the decline of positivism. By 1930, the remaining positivists
in Latin America were usually regarded as museum pieces rather than proponents of
a viable philosophy meriting serious attention. The contemporary, post-positivist
period can be divided into three distinct sub-periods. The first—rebellion—is
characterized by the backlash against positivism and the subsequent development of
foundations for future philosophical movements (ca.1910–1940). The second—
normalcy—is characterized by the achievement of a degree of institutionalization
and normalization in the philosophical profession (1940–1960). The third period—
maturity (ca. 1960 to the present)—is distinguished by the degree of professional
and philosophical maturity attained by Latin American philosophers.

2.1 Rebellion and the Generation of Founders

(1910–1940)
The anti-positivist rebellion constitutes the first phase of contemporary Latin
American thought. It was brought about by a generation of philosophers born around
1910, all of whom were trained as positivists, before breaking with it. The principal
members of this generation—called “the generation of founders” by Francisco
Romero, and dubbed “the generation of patriarchs” by Francisco Miró Quesada—
are well known: Alejandro Korn (1860–1936) in Argentina, Alejandro Octavio
Deústua (1849–1945) in Peru, José Vasconcelos (1882–1959) and Antonio Caso
(1883–1946) in Mexico, Enrique José Molina (1871–1956) in Chile, Carlos Vaz
Ferreira (1872–1958) in Uruguay, and Raimundo de Farias Brito (1862–1917) in
Brazil.
The adoption of ideas from France, and later from Germany, was instrumental in
formulating the basis for rejecting positivism. It began with the influence of Emile
Boutroux (1845–1921), Henri Bergson (1859–1941), and French vitalism and
intuitionism. It was cemented when the Spaniard José Ortega y Gasset visited Latin
America in 1916 and introduced the thought of Max Scheler (1874–1928), Nicolai
Hartmann (1882–1950), and other German philosophers. Ortega y Gasset and the
German philosophy of the spirit had substantial influence on the generation that
followed that of the founders, called by Miró Quesada “the generation of forgers.”
Samuel Ramos (1897–1959), from Mexico, Francisco Romero (1891–1962), from
Argentina, Alceu Amoroso Lima (1893–1982), from Brazil, and José Carlos
Mariátegui (1894–1930), from Peru, among others, followed the founders’ course,
attacking positivist ideas and favoring in some instances a rather poetic
philosophical style that contrasts with the scientistic emphasis of positivism. They
completed the process initiated by the founders and laid the foundations of future
developments.
One of the main preoccupations of the founders and the generation that followed
them was the absorption of European ideas; they wanted to be philosophically up to
date. In contrast with the objectives of the philosophers that preceded them, which
were for the most part religious (during the colonial period), political (during the
period of independence), or economic (during the nationalist period), the concern of
these thinkers was more systematically philosophical in motivation. This was a
significant change in Latin American philosophy, insofar as scholasticism,
Enlightenment liberalism, and positivism were typically undertaken (at least in Latin
American) for purposes frequently disconnected from a conception of philosophy in
which the discipline was pursued for its own sake. For scholastics, the primary
objective was the apologetic defense of the faith; for liberals, the end was political
emancipation; and for positivists, the goal was national integration and economic
and social progress. In all three cases, European ideas were typically adopted with
pre-established ends in mind. As a consequence, philosophical movements were not
obviously the products of philosophical concerns as such.
In contrast to prior generations, the founders and those who followed them did not
tend to adopt European ideas with a view to the defense of a body of doctrine, or in
order to achieve certain practical ends of political liberation or of national unity and
economic and social progress. Their ideas arose from philosophical dissatisfactions
with positivism. Thus, we find in the writings of Caso, Deústua, and the other
founders who rebelled against positivism, purely philosophical criticisms of that
perspective. They were concerned, for example, with freedom and the fact that
determinism, which they considered undesirable, was a necessary corollary of
positivism. Still, their attitude toward the ideas they adopted was seldom critical.
They saw the defects of positivism, but too often they still accepted uncritically the
solutions they borrowed from non-positivist European philosophers to fight it.
Although the founders and some of their immediate successors had attained some
emancipation in the philosophical enterprise, full maturity remained elusive. Still,
the sophistication of some thinkers, such as Korn, was considerable and planted the
critical seeds that germinated in the following period.

2.2 Normalcy and the Generation of 1910 (1940–

1960)
It is not until the generation born around 1910 reached maturity in the 1940s that a
self-critical spirit clearly entered Latin American philosophy. A state of normalcy
became established in most countries of Latin America, and what might be
called Latin-Americanism grew significantly. The limitations on originality
characteristic of previous generations were in part the result of the lack of self-
criticism and the practical difficulties involved in pursuing a philosophical career in
Latin America. The contribution of those generations was largely restricted to the
importation of foreign thought; originality in substantive doctrine was rarely
achieved, or even an ambition.
There were exceptions, of course. Romero, for example, in his Theory of
Man (1952), developed an original philosophical anthropology. However,
philosophers and philosophical practice was not “normalized,” as Romero put it,
until the emergence of the subsequent generation philosophers. That group included
Risieri Frondizi (1910–1985), Eduardo García Maynez (1908–1993), Miguel Reale
(1910–2006), Francisco Miró Quesada (1918–), Leopoldo Zea (1912–2004), and
Juan Llambías de Azevedo (1907–1972).
This group was the first generation of Latin American philosophers to benefit from
formal education in philosophy. Previous philosophers had been mostly self-taught,
typically trained in another profession, but taking up philosophy out of personal
interest. The structural changes in the academy introduced by the Founders and the
generation that followed made it possible for an entire generation to be trained by
philosophers at the university.
Another important general feature of this period of Latin American philosophy was
that the incipient Latin-Americanism of the previous generation developed and
flourished. This change became evident with the philosophers born around 1910 and
those who followed them. Several philosophers of this generation readily traveled
throughout Latin America and establishing dialogue with other Latin Americans.
This is not to say that Latin-Americanism in philosophy was very robust. Even
today, lack of region-wide philosophical dialogue remains more common than not,
and communities of discourse tend to be more local or national than international.
Still, philosophical communication within Latin America markedly increased during
this period.
One of the factors that helped the development of philosophy was the increasing
consciousness of a distinctly Latin American philosophical identity, of a sense that
there was something different or distinctive about Latin American philosophy. In
part, this was a result of growing consciousness of the increasing importance of
Latin America in the world and, on the philosophical side, of the introduction in
Latin America of Ortega’s perspectivism. By the time of Samuel Ramos and
Leopoldo Zea, the Founders’ preoccupation with the existence of an autochthonous
Latin American philosophy gave rise to a controversy about whether and how it
existed. This debate was one in which practically all important philosophers of the
period participated. In turn, this debate provided impetus to the study and
dissemination of the philosophical work of Latin American thinkers throughout the
region.
Notable work in this vein includes Aníbal Sánchez Reulet’s (1910–1997)
groundbreaking work, published in Tierra Firme in 1936 and entitled “Panorama de
las ideas filosóficas en Hispanoamérica.” Subsequent work by Zea on positivism in
Mexico, written in the early 1940s, as well as Ramos’ historical study of Mexican
philosophy took up the thread, as did Ramón Insua Rodríguez’s history of
philosophy in Hispanic America and Guillermo Francovich’s account of philosophy
in Bolivia. In the eight decades since the publication of Sánchez Reulet’s essay,
there has been a remarkable proliferation of work concerned with the identity of
Latin American philosophy. In addition, anthologies, specialized works, and critical
editions of Latin American philosophical classics have been published. The very
controversy concerning the existence and possibility of an autochthonous Latin
American philosophy that drew so much attention in the second quarter of the
twentieth century (and, for that matter, still continues), has helped to promote and
spread the knowledge of Latin American thought and the philosophical dialogue
among Latin American philosophers.[3]
A second factor that contributed to philosophical growth and Latin-Americanism
was political oppression and the periodic repression of intellectual freedom in Latin
America. This was not a phenomenon limited to any one period of Latin American
philosophy. The colonial regime was without a doubt paradigmatic of intellectual
oppression and control, but the fact of oppression and intellectual constraints
became more profound after independence. In the nineteenth century, positivists
used philosophy as an instrument for specific political and social agendas, and it was
used as a basis for suppressing dissent. In the twentieth century this oppressive
pattern was not limited to a specific intellectual orientation; philosophical
suppression became institutionalized in regimes of the right and the left. The result
has always been the same: intellectual abuse, the violation of rights indispensable
for the pursuit of philosophical ideas and their investigation, the lack of freedom of
expression, and the manipulation of pedagogic institutions and scientific
investigation for political and ideological ends. Latin American intellectuals subject
to these pressures have regularly been forced to go into exile, a state of affairs that
has become almost customary and is prevalent to this day in some countries.
Frondizi’s life is paradigmatic of the situation: his many trips throughout Latin
America were the result of the periodic political upheavals and oppression in
Argentina. An indirect but unexpectedly beneficial result of this recurring situation
was that the philosophical peripatetism of Latin American philosophers contributed
to inter-American philosophical dialogue.
Philosophy in Latin America was also transformed by the arrival of Spanish
émigrés. Among the most influential were: Joaquin Xirau (1895–1946), Eduardo
Nicol (1907–1990), José Ferrater Mora (1912–1991), José Gaos (1900–1969), Luis
Recaséns Siches (1903–1977), Juan D. García Bacca (1901–1992), José Medina
Echevarría (1903–1977), Maria Zambrano (1904–191), and almost fifty others (see
Abellán, 1967). There were diverse effects of the arrival of this group. First, their
migrations throughout Latin America helped break down some of the national
barriers between philosophical communities in Latin America. The conception
of hispanidad that they inherited from Miguel de Unamuno and from Ortega, and
the need to establish themselves in Latin America, helped the process; they went
from country to country, spreading ideas and contributing to the increase in
philosophical dialogue. Second, many of them helped implement changes in
university curricula across Latin America, frequently establishing lasting programs
in philosophy. The effects of their work became evident when the generation born
around 1910 reached maturity. It was at that point that Latin American philosophers
began to think and act philosophically in pan-Latin American terms, traveling,
exchanging ideas, and cooperating in projects of common interest.
The period that goes from 1940 to 1960 does not reveal drastic changes in
philosophical orientation. The generation of the Founders used French vitalism as an
instrument to reject positivism, and the following generation, with Ortega’s help,
took charge of the process, incorporating German philosophy and the new ideas
introduced by phenomenology and existentialism. At this time, Martin Heidegger
(1889–1976) and Jean–Paul Sartre (1905–1980) constituted the dominant
philosophical force in Latin America. Simultaneously, scholasticism experienced
renewed impetus. The number of sympathizers of philosophical analysis and
Marxism continued to grow, but Thomism, phenomenology, existentialism, and
various versions of nationalist and culturalist philosophy were the dominant
approaches throughout Latin America. Those working outside the dominant currents
had little institutional power.

2.3 Maturity (1960–present)

By the 1960s, philosophy in Latin America had indisputably reached a level of
philosophical maturity. The work had markedly increased in originality and depth,
and some of it achieved international visibility. This period of maturity continues to
the present. To appreciate the distinctiveness of this new situation, it helps to recall
that the period of normalcy was characterized by (1) critical interaction with the
philosophical ideas coming from outside Latin America, (2) an increase in dialogue
within Latin America, and (3) the institutionalization of philosophy. In the period of
maturity, these features became stable and the general caliber of philosophical work
continued to improve accordingly.
If one measures philosophical activity by the number of new journals founded, or by
the number of important congresses that occur, one might mistakenly conclude that
philosophical activity actually diminished after the 1960s. However, many of the
journals founded in the preceding twenty years continued publication, so there was
actually a net increase in fora for philosophical work. Moreover, more than a dozen
important congresses and philosophical meetings took place between 1960 and
1980. In short, the activity related to publications and professional meetings had
reached a healthy level of stability.
Four philosophical currents deserve special attention at this period because of their
growing influence and the new ideas and approaches they introduced in Latin
American philosophy: socialist and Marxist thought (broadly conceived),
philosophical analysis, the philosophy of liberation, and the history of philosophy.
Latin America has had a long and notable history of receptivity to socialist thought.
Its introduction goes back to the nineteenth century. The impact of the socialist ideas
of Claude Henri de Saint-Simon (1790–1825) and Charles Fourier (1772–1873) are
clearly visible in the treatise Dogma socialista of Esteban Echevarría (1805–1851).
In the twentieth century, Emilio Frugoni (1880–1969) in Uruguay and Mariátegui in
Peru, among others, developed Marxist accounts, although frequently in heterodox
terms. For example, Mariátegui allowed that there is no essential conflict between
religious thought and Marxism, departing from the standard materialist, atheist
commitments of orthodox Marxism. He also held that the conception of economic
stages in Marx, modeled on Europe, did not apply to Peru. Although bourgeois
liberal capitalism had not materialized in Peru, he held that the only way to move
forward was to transition to socialism.
Latin American Marxism has been diverse in its philosophical particulars, and is
subject to ongoing development. Even so, many forms of Latin American Marxism
commitments to the following: (1) an end to imperialism, neo-colonialism and class
oppression through socialist democratic change and/or revolution; (2) a form of
socialist humanism based on (a) ending the capitalist exploitation of human being by
human being, and (b) upholding a model of dignity based on economic and social
equality; (3) a conception of philosophy as committed to understanding the world in
all its dynamic and interrelated aspects, theorizing the meanings of capitalism and
socialism, and shedding light on acting accordingly. Class consciousness of workers,
the proletariat, or the people is typically regarded as an important engine of social
change. Apart from these shared commitments, Antonio Gramsci’s (1891–1937)
influential model of “organic intellectuals”—intellectuals who support social
revolution with critical perspectives—also resonated with a range of leftist
intellectuals who lent their support to Marxist revolutionary movements in Cuba,
Nicaragua, and elsewhere.[4]
Despite a long-standing openness to various strands of socialist thought, it was only
after 1960 that Marxism gained notable academic standing throughout Latin
America. Indeed, Harold Davis claimed, plausibly enough, that Marxism became the
most common ideological conviction among professionals in the decades following
the 1960s. Mariátegui continues to loom large in characterizations of a distinctively
Latin American form of Marxism. However, other important figures in academic
Marxism emerged in the contemporary period, including Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez
(1915–2011), of Spanish origin but working in Mexico, and the Brazilian Caio
Prado Junior (1907–1990).
The popularity of the Marxism has made possible its widespread institutionalization
and its impact on virtually all active philosophical approaches in Latin America. To
be sure, it is not without its critics, many of whom charge that a philosophy that
aims to change the world is not philosophy at all, or that its scope is entirely too
limited for an entire discipline. Nevertheless, it is not much of an exaggeration to
say that, broadly speaking, Marxist themes are widely present in Latin American
philosophy, even if philosophers pursuing an explicitly Marxist philosophical
research program remain in the minority.
Compared to Marxism, analytic philosophy was a late arrival to Latin America.
Owing to its technical and academic character, analytic philosophy’s initial
influence was small. Its historical connection with Logical Positivism caused many
to reject it because of its perceived commonality with nineteenth century positivism.
However, in a relatively short period of time, analytic philosophy became one of the
most forceful philosophical currents in Latin America. The publication of the
journals Crítica in Mexico, Análisis Filosófico in Argentina, and Manuscrito in
Brazil, the foundation of the Society of Philosophical Analysis (SADAF) in
Argentina, and the growth of publications of an analytic bent in journals of neutral
philosophical orientation, testify to the fact that philosophical analysis is now well
established in Latin America.[5]
An important dimension of this was the international uptake of some of this work.
Some analytic philosophers from Latin America attracted the attention of
philosophers in Europe (particularly in England and Germany), the United States,
and Canada. In addition, Latin American philosophers who emigrated or made
extended visits to these countries produced important work. Three areas of
contributions stand out: the philosophy of human rights, legal theory, and logic.
Eduardo Rabossi (1930–2005) work on human rights in Latin America attracted the
attention of major English and American philosophers. Carlos Nino’s (1943–1993)
work in the philosophy of law, such as his consensual theory of punishment, has
been widely recognized as an original contribution to philosophy and jurisprudence
(see Navarro in Nuccetelli et. al., 2010). Finally, Latin American work in logic has
been particularly fecund. Newton C. A. da Costa (b. 1929) has done considerable
work on paraconsistent logic that has been the subject of international attention (see
da Costa & Bueno 2010). Carlos Eduardo Alchourrón’s (1985) contributions to the
AGM model of belief change (named after Alchourrón and his collaborators, Peter
Gärdenfors and David Makinson) has also been influential. Although its
underpinnings were initially developed from Alchourrón and Makinson’s efforts at
modeling changes in legal codes, it is now the dominant formal framework for
modeling belief revision.
The growing influence of analytic philosophy in Latin America has not gone without
criticism. It is not uncommon to hear that analytic philosophers lack sensitivity to
the pressing problems affecting Latin America. Although this concern is hardly
unique to analytic philosophy, it is also sometimes merited. However, it is also true
that the rigorous argumentation, analysis of language, and use of symbolic logic
often constitute obstacles for outsiders to this methodology. Nevertheless, Latin
American analytic philosophers have often been involved in socially pertinent
issues. Indeed, both Rabossi and Nino were involved in the politics of Argentina,
serving in the government of President Raúl Alfonsín. Da Costa and Alchourrón
both applied their logical theories to law and a variety of arguably “practical”
problems. Moreover, a variety of Latin American analytic philosophers have been
centrally preoccupied with ethical and political questions. In the wake of the 1994
Zapatista rebellion, a number of prominent Mexican philosophers (including
Fernando Salmerón and Luis Villoro) became involved in public and academic
efforts at addressing the concerns of the Zapatistas.
A third contemporary approach that merits special attention is the philosophy of
liberation . This autochthonous philosophical perspective started in the early 1970s
with a group of Argentinian philosophers, most notably Arturo Andrés Roig (1922–
2012), Horacio Cerutti-Guldberg (b. 1950), and Enrique Dussel (b. 1934), with
Dussel being primarily responsible for spreading the philosophy of liberation
outside of Latin America. This philosophy shares some of its intellectual
touchstones with the theology of liberation—in particular, indebtedness to
dependency theory, as well as Catholic and Marxist ideas. Some of the most
significant features of the various strands of the movement include the aspiration for
Latin American intellectual independence, an emphasis on economic autonomy as
opposed to economic dependence, an emphasis on political regimes that are
responsive to the interest of the poor and indigenous populations, and in general, a
concern to put Third World realities at the center of philosophical concerns.
The international visibility of the philosophy of liberation was in part an
unanticipated consequence of military repression in 1976–83 in Argentina. The
founding figures of the philosophy of liberation went into exile in various countries
in Latin America. Although this early diaspora created permanent splits in the
movement—Cerutti-Guldberg urges that one speak of “philosophies of liberation”—
its ideas spread throughout the region.
The goal of intellectual independence, important to many varieties of the philosophy
of liberation, was not new with the philosophy of liberation. Strands of it can be
found in the work of Ramos and others in the early parts of the 20th century. Other
forerunners include the culturalist and historicist views of Leopoldo Zea, which
emphasize the distinctiveness of Latin America and its history. Moreover, Augusto
Salazar Bondy’s (1925–1974) concern for intellectual authenticity, informed by
dependency theory, paved the way for important developments in the philosophy of
liberation. However, the distinctive feature of the philosophy of liberation is the
degree to which it has developed the theme of liberation into a far-reaching and
systematic critique of European (and later, United States) dominance in intellectual,
economic, and social worlds. In particular, philosophers of liberation charge that the
intellectual and economic frameworks of Europe and the United States are
distinguished (currently and historically) by a disregard for or hostility to the
concerns of those outside the systems of power central to Europe and the United
States.
The philosophy of liberation has been subject to varied criticisms. There is a rich
tradition of disagreements internal to the movement (Cerutti-Guldberg 1983), and
even those sympathetic with aspects of it have charged that its proponents have
failed to adequately accommodate concerns about gender and sexuality (Schutte
1993), that it is insufficiently attentive to the way identity categories work (Alcoff
2000), and that despite its condemnation of Eurocentrism, it too is Eurocentric
(Vargas 2005).
Although analytic philosophers (whether in Latin America or abroad) have generally
ignored the philosophy of liberation (or else dismissed it as unrigorous or
unphilosophical), this philosophical perspective has arguably had more impact
outside of Latin America than any other Latin American philosophical development.
In particular, Dussel has been in dialogue with a variety of philosophers in Europe
(including Apel, Ricoeur, and Habermas), and with Continental-influenced
philosophers in the United States and elsewhere (e.g., Rorty, Taylor, Alcoff, and
Mendieta).[6]
The fourth philosophical current in the Latin American contemporary scene worth
noting is not properly an orientation but a field of study: the history of philosophy.
Philosophical productivity in this area is worthy of note because its impact has been
considerably among philosophers of diverse persuasions. Before 1960, both the
quantity and the quality of studies on the history of philosophy published in Latin
America were often deplorable. Most works amounted to panegyrics, or mere
paraphrases of texts not available in Spanish translation. Moreover, complete
periods of the history of philosophy remained outside the scope of those studies.
Since 1960, the situation has changed substantially. There are now works that deal
with practically every period of the history of Western philosophy, and even Eastern
philosophy. Moreover, a good proportion of those studies are serious, revealing
knowledge of the pertinent languages and primary sources and adding a critical
element without which the history of philosophy becomes merely a gloss.
A development that should be noted in this regard is the appearance of journals
specializing in the history and thought of some historical periods. For example, the
last decade saw the appearance of journals devoted to the study of the Middle Ages.
Although not all these journals are strictly speaking philosophical, their publication
is important, because it indicates the existence of the technical background
doubtlessly necessary for serious historical research. It also reveals the dedication of
Latin American intellectual groups to what might be called “pure research”—the
search for knowledge for its own sake without consideration of its immediate
practical applications.
Collectively, these facts demonstrate a thematic dexterity in handling philosophical
ideas and arguments, a fact that led Miró Quesada to characterize the generations of
Latin American philosophers in the period of maturity as ‘technical’. Philosophy has
become a specialized and professional discipline in Latin America. Indeed, since
1960, Latin American philosophy has achieved a degree of maturity that compares
well with the state of the profession in Europe and the United States.
A final recent development in the United States merits mention in connection with
Latin American philosophy. There are now several generations of distinguished
philosophers of Hispanic or Latin American descent have worked in the United
States and Canada, contributing to traditional philosophical fields such as
metaphysics, epistemology, and the history of philosophy. Among these are George
Santayana (1863–1952), Héctor-Neri Catañeda (1924–1991), Mario Bunge (b.
1919), Ernesto Sosa (b. 1940), Jorge J. E. Gracia (b. 1942), and Linda M. Alcoff,
among others.
In the last two or three decades a new sense of Latino/a identity in philosophy has
grown among a group of philosophers who have undertaken work in areas related to
Hispanic/Latino issues and have identified themselves as Hispanics or Latinos/as.
Among senior philosophers who have been more clearly identified with this
movement are two from the mentioned group (Alcoff and Gracia), as well as others,
such as J. Angelo Corlett, Susana Nuccetelli, Eduardo Mendieta, and Ofelia Schutte.
These philosophers have contributed in particular to the discourse on issues of race,
ethnicity, nationality, and feminism, particularly through an analysis of ethnic,
racial, and gender identity. One striking feature of much of this work is the
remarkable degree to which it is explicitly informed by, or engaged with, Latin
American philosophy and its history.

3. Problems and Topics

The third section of this entry focuses on topics that have been of particular concern
to Latin American and Latino/a philosophers and that have interest today. These
topics offer a general picture of the way these philosophers have approached
philosophical problems. Nevertheless, the issues canvassed here are, necessarily, an
inadequate representation of the diverse issues and approaches taken up in Latin
American philosophy.[7]

3.1 The Rights of Amerindians

Perhaps the oldest distinctive philosophical problem of post-Columbian Latin
American philosophy concerns the rights of indigenous populations in the Americas,
and the duties of those governments that claimed jurisdiction over them. In the mid-
sixteenth century, there were serious reservations on the part of a number of
philosophers, theologians, and legal theorists concerning the validity of the Spanish
wars of conquest. Francisco Vitoria’s developments of just war theory were among
the earliest and most lasting philosophical contributions to the topic. One of the
most significant issues for sixteenth century thinkers in Spain was whether the
indigenous populations were natural slaves or not. Whether the Spanish Crown
could “pacify” the indigenous populations through violence—or whether more
peaceful means of persuasion and political control were necessary—was perceived
to turn on whether the indigenous populations were natural slaves. Relatedly, the
outcome of this dispute had implications for the duties of the Spanish Crown to the
indigenous population, and correspondingly, the manner in which the indigenous
populations ought to be treated (Canteñs 2010).
The issue reached its apex in a debate between Juan Ginés Sepúlveda, who defended
the Spanish Crown’s right to forcibly impose its legal and religious practices on the
indigenous populations of the Americas, and Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Dominican
friar and the first Bishop of Chiapas. Las Casas argued for a nuanced reading of the
idea of natural slavery, while insisting on the full rationality of the indigenous
populations, the need for peaceful evangelization of those populations, and for strict
limits on the means used on behalf of Spanish interest in the Americas. The results
of the debate were inclusive—Sepúlveda’s work was suppressed for a time, but Las
Casas’ position on the limits of Spanish use of force never became officially adopted
by the Spanish Crown. Nevertheless, Las Casas continued to play a prominent role
in the Spanish Imperial court, tirelessly arguing on behalf of the native populations.
Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, perhaps the dominant view of
Latin American philosophers (a predominantly upper class group, generally of
European ancestry) tended to regard indigenous populations as a “problem” that
needed to be overcome. By the late nineteenth century, amidst the considerable
influence of Huxley and Social Darwinism, several nations had policies of
encouraging assimilation and “civilizing” of the indigenous populations, oftentimes
in conjunction with encouraging more immigration from Europe. For philosophers
and policy-makers alike, concern for preserving indigenous cultural practices,
language, and political autonomy was typically negligible.
In the twentieth century, the concerns and nature of indigenous populations received
more varied evaluations from philosophers. For example, Mariátegui (1971) argued
that indigenous Peruvians were collectivists, “natural” communists whose economic
difficulties were due in large part to the ownership, distribution and use of lands in
Peru. In the work of José Vasconcelos (Vasconcelos/Gamio, 1926; Vasconcelos,
1997), indigenous populations in the Americas were something to be assimilated
along the way towards the formation of a “cosmic” race of mixed-people. That
future population, a mixed-race people, would adapt the best cultural practices from
around the world. In the work of Enrique Dussel (1995), the encounter with the
Amerindian populations are philosophically important for a variety of reasons,
including the formation of Europe as an important conceptual category, the creation
of modernity, and what the interactions between conquerors and conquered reveal
about the difficulty of understanding the interests and concerns of other peoples.
In the decade leading up to 1992 (the quincentenary of the Conquest) intellectual
discussion of indigenous peoples and their interests grew considerably. By the
1990s, there was a flourishing of philosophical work, especially but not exclusively
in Mexico, on issues of ethnic identity and political representation of indigenous
populations. Luis Villoro, Fernando Salmerón, and León Olivé were among the
prominent contributors to those discussions.
In the first part of the twenty first century, philosophical work on aspects of a
distinctly Latin American problematic concerning race and politics
proliferated.[8] For more on some of these matters, see the section below on
the Identity of the People.

3.2 The Identity of the People

One of the most enduring challenges that the peoples of Latin America have
encountered in their history concerns the definition of their identity as a people.
When Iberians arrived at the Americas, Amerindians were scattered throughout an
enormous territory, divided by substantially different cultures, including numerous
languages. Iberians imposed a colonial unity on them, but the question of their
identity became critical, particularly after Africans were brought in to make up a
labor deficit in the Caribbean and the East coast of South America. How do all these
peoples fit together as a people or a nation, and how are they to be conceived? The
question of identity first surfaced in the discussions about the rights of Amerindians,
and later of African slaves, but extended to Iberian born versus American born
Europeans.
The issue became critical during the period of independence, when those who fought
against the Spanish domination in particular faced the task of forming nations of a
population that was diverse in race, culture, and origin. Liberators such as Bolívar
and Martí understood well the challenge and rejected race in particular as a divide
among the different populations from which they sought to forge unified nations
(see Aguilar Rivera and Schutte in Gracia, 2011). They proposed notions of national
unity based on a mixed population under ideals of political self-determination.
This emphasis changed after independence, in response to the pressing needs for
national development and progress. Positivist philosophers, such as Sarmiento,
frequently advocated national policies that favored European immigration as a way
of undermining the racial and ethnic differences that divided the population (see
Burke and Humphrey in Gracia, 2011). These policies were often based on a
negative view of both Amerindians and Africans. Moreover, these policies failed to
achieve the goals their proponents sought. The failure of positivist ideas to help
define the identity of the populations of the various nations gave rise to a reaction,
most evident in the Mexican Revolution, to turn back to the Amerindian past as a
way to find a unity that would make nations of the diverse population. Notions of
both national and Latin American unity were proposed on various grounds at this
time. For some, as is the case with Vasconcelos, the unity is racial, a result of the
mixing of the various races that constitute the Latin American populations (see von
Vacano in Gracia, 2011). For others—such as Zea—the cultural unity of these
populations provided the basis of national or Latin American identity (see Oliver in
Gracia, 2011).
The efforts to find an effective way to define the identity of Latin Americans has
continued unabated in Latin America, and has found fertile ground in the work of
Latino/a philosophers working in the United States. Efforts to define the racial,
ethnic and national boundaries of the identity of Latin Americans and of Latinos/as
in the United States have been pursued by such authors as Alcoff, Corlett, and
Gracia (see Millán and Velásquez in Gracia, 2011).

3.3 Philosophical Anthropology

A corner stone of Latin American positivism was a scientific conception of human
beings that was cashed out in psychological terms in order to solve the mind-body
problem. Antipositivists attacked this conception of personhood, and set out to
develop a philosophical anthropology that would provide an appealing alternative to
the positivist conception of persons. Practically every established philosopher
engaged in this project. Three major approaches emerged: a vitalistic anthropology,
an anthropology of the spirit, and various existentialist/Marxist alternatives.
The group of philosophers who adopted some form of vitalism were strongly
influenced by Bergson. On early versions of this approach, a positivist anthropology
was rejected on grounds that it has no place for freedom. Among the most important
early proponents of this view were Vaz Ferreira (Uruguay), Alejandro Deústua
(Peru), Antonio Caso (Mexico), Enrique Molina (Chile) and Alejandro Korn
(Argentina). In the work of both Caso and Vaconcelos, the distinctive character of
human beings is consciousness of a sort that is purportedly at odds with
deterministic or mechanistic views of the world.
The work of these authors and the visit of the popular Spanish philosopher José
Ortega y Gasset, opened Latin American philosophical anthropology to the
influence of a new wave of European philosophers. In particular, Husserl, Dilthey,
Scheler, and Hartman gave rise to a different approach within philosophical
anthropology: the anthropology of the spirit. Among the most important proponents
of this view were Samuel Ramos (Mexico), Francisco Romero Argentina), Risieri
Frondizi (Argentina), Francisco Miró Quesada (Peru), and Leopoldo Zea (Mexico).
For Ramos, feeling, not reason, is the central feature of humanity. For Romero, the
characteristic that identifies humans is duality; for Miró Quesada, the fundamental
question is metaphysical, namely, “What is human?” Doubts about the possibility of
finding an adequate theory tended to turn the challenge into an epistemic rather than
metaphysical matter.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, Existentialism gained a foothold among philosophers
in Latin American. Among the most important Latin American
existentialists/Marxists are Carlos Astrada (Argentina) and Vicente Ferreira da Silva
(Brazil), who were particularly influenced by Heidegger. Both were concerned with
whether there is such a thing as a human essence. Astrada argues that there is not:
Humans do not have a determinate essence, and that constitutes their fundamental
problem. In Mexico, a variety of prominent philosophers--members of the Hyperion
Group--briefly took up existentialist themes, abandoning them with a few short
years (Sánchez 2016).

3.4 Latin America’s Philosophical Identity

The notion of Latin American philosophy has been a subject of heated controversy
for most of the twentieth century. The controversy has several foci. Five of the most
hotly debated ones are existence, identity, characteristics, originality, and
authenticity. Is there such a thing as Latin American philosophy? In what does its
identity consist? Does it have any distinguishing marks? Is it original? And is it
authentic?
The disagreements in the answers given to these questions are deep. There are at
least four ways of looking at them depending on the approach used: universalist,
culturalist, critical, and ethnic. The universalist views philosophy as a universal
discipline akin to science. Consequently, the fundamental issue for universalists
turns on whether Latin Americans have been able to produce the kind of universal
discipline that one expects when one has science as a model. Its problems are
common to all humans, its method is also common, and its conclusions are supposed
to be true, regardless of particular circumstances. Most universalists, such as
Frondizi, see Latin American philosophy as largely a failure in this respect.
The culturalist thinks that truth is always perspectival, dependent on a point of view.
The method to acquire truth is always dependent on a cultural context. Philosophy is
a historical, non-scientific enterprise concerned with the elaboration of a general
point of view from a certain personal or cultural perspective. Accordingly, the
culturalist can allow for the existence of Latin American philosophy insofar as Latin
Americans have engaged in developing views from their perspective as individuals
or as Latin Americans, and using whatever means they have found appropriate to do
so. Whether they are original or authentic, or have produced a kind of scientific
philosophy, are irrelevant matters. This is Leopoldo Zea’s position (see Zea in
Gracia 1988–89).
The critical approach considers philosophy a result of social conditions, and closely
related to those conditions. Some conditions are conducive to the production of
philosophy, or what is sometimes called authentic philosophy, whereas others are
not. Unfortunately, proponents of this position (e.g., Salazar Bondy, 1969) have
typically seen Latin American philosophy as a failure in this respect because of the
conditions operative in the region. According to them, Latin American philosophy
is, and will continue to be, inauthentic and therefore not true philosophy, as long as
Latin American philosophers continue to emulate the views of philosophers from the
developed world.
The ethnic approach argues that Latin American philosophy needs to be understood
as the philosophy produced by the Latin American people. The notion of Latin
Americans as a people is the key to understanding both how Latin American
philosophy has unity in diversity. It is one because an ethnic group has produced it,
but it differs from place to place and across time because different historical
circumstances prompt the people that produce it to address different problems and to
adopt different perspectives and methods. This approach seeks to understand how
Latin American philosophy can be universal, particular, and authentic, (see Gracia,
2008, ch 7).
Questions concerning the notion of Latin American philosophy were first raised in
Latin America in the nineteenth century. However, it was not until the end of the
first half of the twentieth century that they were seriously explored, in particular, by
Zea and Frondizi. Since then, this topic has been a constant source of discussion and
controversy. Indeed, it is perhaps the most discussed subject matter within Latin
American philosophy.

3.4 Feminist Philosophy

Since at least the 19th century, feminist academic work in Latin America has had a
complicated and generally ambivalent relationship with academic and philosophical
work more generally (Fornet-Bentacourt, 2009). For example, after Independence,
women were granted greater access to education but recognizably feminist concerns
tended to be mostly peripheral to academic and philosophical discussion. This
history has led some to argue that feminist philosophy should be centered not in
philosophy but in a diverse collection of academic fields and (often activist) social
practices. For example, Ofelia Schutte (2011) has maintained that feminist
philosophy requires a home in a broader Latin American feminist theory and not in
the discipline of philosophy in Latin America because “feminism is too new there to
be able to effectively transform centuries of masculine intellectual dominance in
philosophy” (p. 784).
Despite feminist philosophy’s ongoing ambivalent relationship with academic
philosophy in Latin America, there has nevertheless been a recurring strand of
academic philosophical work in an identifiable feminist vein since the end of the
19th century (Oliver 2007, p. 32). For example, Uruguayan philosopher Carlos Vaz
Ferreria (1871–1958) gave a series of lectures in 1917 on feminism, which were
later published in 1935 under the title Sobre feminismo [On Feminism]. Mexican
philosopher Graciela Hierro (1928–2003) published extensively on feminist ethics
and the role of feminism in public and academic spaces. Moreover, starting in the
1980s there has been considerable growth in the field, with important work by such
figures María Pía Lara, María Luisa Femenías, and Ofelia Schutte. A good deal of
recent feminist philosophy has been transnational in its sources, explicitly drawing
on academic philosophy in the Americas and Continental Europe, but also drawing
from the history of feminist activism in Latin America, social science research, and
personal narratives.
The diversity of interests and positions of Latin American feminists makes it
difficult to provide a simple but accurate characterization of the field. It is
sometimes held that, in comparison to U.S. forms of feminist thought, Latin
American feminism has had a somewhat greater interest in the critical analysis of
families, class, and ethnicity (Schutte and Femenías 2010, p. 407–9). Consistent
with the wider Latin American philosophical tradition’s impulse to self-critical
reflexiveness about its tradition, it is perhaps fair to say that Latin American feminist
philosophy has been particularly reflexive or self-critical about what it means to
pursue feminist philosophy in Latin America. For example, feminist philosophers
have emphasized the need to recognize that academic philosophers, wherever they
live, enjoy a cultural privilege that may put them at some distance from the living
conditions of most women in Latin America (Femenías and Oliver, 2007, p. xi).
Given such a model of “epistemic privilege” where, as a matter of actual social
practices, the experiences and categories of some tend to be valued over others, a
number of feminist philosophers have thought feminist philosophers have a special
reason to consider the ways in which feminist goals are conceptualized and
represented in popular and academic discourse (Schutte 2011, p. 785).
Although the future of feminist philosophy in Latin America remains unclear, it
seems rather likely that a range of its prominent concerns—including activist
philosophy, concerns for epistemic and cultural privilege, and reliance on
 interdisciplinary interpretive frameworks will survive in the interests of a range of
academic contexts.

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Philosophical Forum, XX (1–2): 33–42.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the thoughtful advice of an anonymous
reviewer, and feedback from Liam Kofi Bright.
Copyright © 2018 by
Jorge Gracia <gracia@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Manuel Vargas <mrvargas@ucsd.edu>