Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The question of identity and Latin American philosophy has been a topic of intense discussion among Latin Americans. It has two major parts. The first concerns the identity of Latin American philosophy itself; the second concerns how identity has been discussed in Latin American philosophy. The first may in turn be divided into at least two sub-topics: whether in fact there is such a thing as Latin American philosophy and how best to conceive it. The division of the second depends on the identity of which things have been discussed by Latin American philosophers. Most important among these is the identity of the Latin American peoples, and especially of ethnic, racial, and national identities. This chapter concentrates on views about the identity of Latin American philosophy, but it adds some historical discussion of positions Latin Americans have taken with respect to an overall Latin American identity, as opposed to particular ethnic, racial, or national identities. The chapter begins with a discussion of identity, and then moves on to the problem posed by the notion of Latin American philosophy, four general approaches dealing with the problem, and a brief historical account of how the problem has been discussed in Latin America. In spite of widespread use in common parlance, the term ‘identity’ is erudite in origin. It is a transliteration of the Latin identitas (in turn ... log in or subscribe to read full text