Positivism, science, and 'The Scientists' in Porfirian Mexico : a reappraisal / Natalia Priego.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Priego, Natalia, author.

Series:

Liverpool Latin American studies ; new ser., 15.

Liverpool Latin American Studies, New Series ; 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intellectual life.

Mexico--History--1867-1910.

Mexico.

History.

Mexico--Intellectual life--19th century.

Mexico--Politics and government--1867-1910.

Politics and government.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

176 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2016.

Summary:

This innovative monograph is of major significance not only for students and academics undertaking research on the history of Mexico during the long dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz but also for scholars specialising in the history of ideas, philosophy and science. Unlike previous discussions of positivism in Latin America, this book presents a detailed analysis of the English thinker Herbert Spencer's original works as necessary gateway into the discussion of the thinking of 'The Scientists'. Its principle purpose is to revisit the influential thesis of Leopolda Zea, which proposed that 'The Scientists' throughout this period were Spencerian Postivists. This book offers a revisionist analysis of the original papers of 'The Scientists' Francisco Bulnes and Justo Sierra, as well as their political and philosophical ideas and activities. This analysis demonstrates that their electric discourses used the ideas of the American Social Darwinists and those from Spencer, Darwin, August Comte, and other European winters, and concludes that 'The Scientists' lacked a clear leader and had an ambivalent relationship with Díaz. It interprets 'The Scientists' not as 'heroes' or 'villains', but as men struggling to appropriate European philosophical advances into their quest to modernize Mexico. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Porfirio Diaz, Positivism, and 'The Scientists' 16

2 The origins of the Spencerian theory of evolution 45

3 The evolution of Spencerianism 78

4 Spencerian evolution: education, racism, and race in the thinking of 'The Scientists' 110

5 The eradication of the myth: conclusions 155.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-169) and index.

ISBN:

1781382565

9781781382561

OCLC:

945485672