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):

Mexico--History--1867-1910.

Mexico.

Mexico--Intellectual life--19th century.

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

Physical Description:

1 online resource (176 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Positivism, Science & 'The Scientists' in Porfirian Mexico

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2016.

Summary:

<p>This innovative monograph is of major significance for not only students and academics undertaking research on the history of Mexico during the long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, but also scholars specializing 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 a necessary gateway into the discussion of the thinking of 'The Scientists'. Its principal purpose is to revisit the influential thesis of Leopoldo Zea which proposed that 'The Scientists' throughout this period were Spencerian positivists.</p><p>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 eclectic discourses used the ideas of the American Social Darwinists, and those from Spencer, Darwin, August Comte, andother European writers, concluding 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 modernise Mexico.</p>

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 11 Aug 2017).

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

ISBN:

1-78694-544-4

1-78138-438-X

OCLC:

956277611