A Companion to Latin American Philosophy

A Companion to Latin American Philosophy presents a comprehensive collection of original essays addressing the central themes in Latin American philosophy. Contributed by a distinguished team of scholars, many of them Latin American, the essays discuss and analyze the diversity and multifaceted nature of philosophical thought emerging from Latin America. Addressing both analytical and continental traditions, the Companion explores the history of Latin American philosophy and its current issues, traces the development of the discipline, and offers biographical sketches of key Latin American thinkers. Themes and topics discussed include the nature of philosophy, justice, human rights, and cultural identity. Taken together, the essays provide rich insights into Latin American philosophical thought as it developed from pre–Columbian societies through the colonial era and up to the present day.

Comprised of an outstanding compilation of current thinking on central issues and arguments, A Companion to Latin American Philosophy provides English–speaking readers with an illuminating portrait of Latin America′s rich and rigorous tradition of creative philosophical thought.

About the Editors viii

Contributors ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

Part I Historical Perspectives 7

1 Pre–Columbian Philosophies 9
James Maffie

2 The Rights of the American Indians 23
Bernardo J. Canteñs

3 Colonial Thought 36
Luis Fernando Restrepo

4 The Emergence and Transformation of Positivism 53
Meri L. Clark

5 Early Critics of Positivism 68
Oscar R. Martí

6 The Anti–Positivist Movement in Mexico 82
Guillermo Hurtado

7 Darwinism 95
Adriana Novoa and Alex Levine

8 Krausism 110
Claus Dierksmeier

9 Normal Philosophy 128
William F. Cooper

10 Ortega y Gasset s Heritage in Latin America 142
Manuel Garrido

11 Phenomenology 156
Nythamar de Oliveira

12 Marxism 170
Renzo Llorente

13 Liberation Philosophy 185
David Ignatius Gandolfo

14 Analytic Philosophy 199
Diana I. Pérez and Gustavo Ortiz–Millán

Part II Current Issues 215

15 Paraconsistent Logic 217
Newton C. A. da Costa and Otávio Bueno

16 Language and Colonization 230
Ilan Stavans

17 Ethnic–Group Terms 241
Susana Nuccetelli and Roderick Stewart

18 Identity and Latin American Philosophy 253
Jorge J. E. Gracia

19 Latinos on Race and Ethnicity: Alcoff, Corlett, and Gracia 269
Lawrence Blum

20 Mestizaje and Hispanic Identity 283
Gregory Velazco y Trianosky

21 Liberation in Theology, Philosophy, and Pedagogy 297
Iván Márquez

22 Philosophy, Postcoloniality, and Postmodernity 312
Ofelia Schutte

23 Globalization and Latin American Thought 327
A. Pablo Iannone

Part III Disciplinary Developments 341

24 Latin American Philosophy 343
Susana Nuccetelli

25 Contemporary Ethics and Political Philosophy 357
Eduardo Rivera–López

26 Philosophy of Science 370
Alberto Cordero

27 Philosophy and Latin American Literature 383
Jesús H. Aguilar

28 Feminist Philosophy 397
Ofelia Schutte and María Luisa Femenías

29 Teaching Philosophy 412
María Cristina González and Noa Stigol

30 Cultural Studies 425
Arturo Arias

31 Deontic Logic and Legal Philosophy 439
Pablo Navarro

32 Metaphysics 454
Liza Skidelsky

33 Epistemology 468
Eleonora Cresto

34 Formal Epistemology and Logic 482
Horacio Arló–Costa and Eduardo Fermé

Part IV Biographical Sketches 497

35 Some Great Figures 499
Gregory D. Gilson and Gregory Fernando Pappas

36 From Philosophy to Physics, and Back 525
Mario Bunge

Index 540

Susana Nuccetelli is Professor of Philosophy at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota. Her articles on Latin American philosophy, ethics, epistemology, and philosophy of language have appeared in Analysis, the American Philosophical Quarterly, Metaphilosophy, Inquiry, and other journals. She is co–editor of Ethical Naturalism: Current Debates (2012), Themes from G. E. Moore: New Essays in Epistemology and Ethics (2007), Philosophy of Language: The Central Topics (2008), and Latin American Philosophy (2004); editor of New Essays on Semantic Externalism and Self–Knowledge (2003); and single author of Latin American Thought: Philosophical Problems and Arguments (2002).

Ofelia Schutte is Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of South Florida, Tampa. She is the author of Cultural Identity and Social Liberation in Latin American Thought (1993), Beyond Nihilism: Nietzsche without Masks (1984), and numerous articles on feminist theory, Latin American thought, and continental philosophy. A former Fulbright Senior Research Fellow to Mexico, her work has appeared in Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Journal of Social Philosophy, Philosophy Today, and The Philosophical Forum, among other journals and edited collections.

Otávio Bueno is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of Miami, Florida. His work in philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of logic has been published in Noûs, Mind, Philosophy of Science, Synthese, Journal of Philosophical Logic, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Erkenntnis, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, and Analysis, among other journals and collections. He is editor–in–chief of Synthese.