Leopoldo Zea and Mexican Positivism: A Reappraisal
1968; Duke University Press; Volume: 48; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1215/00182168-48.1.1
ISSN1527-1900
Autores Tópico(s)Latin American Cultural Politics
ResumoHE NAME which Auguste Comte gave to his system of philosophy was positivism. He chose this name for the simple reason that philosophy for Comte had to be derived from and based on the positive sciences: mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and social physics. It was a philosophy of science-or rather, a synthesis of the particular truths of the individual sciences which were all considered to be manifestations of natural phenomena. Yet, for Comte, it was not enough to study and develop a system of philosophy for its own sake. The positivist philosopher was to apply his knowledge actively to the human condition and all of its problems, for his positivist understanding placed him in the best position to serve the cause of mankind. Thus it was that Comte's whole philosophy of science involved political, religious, and ethical considerations, as well as the strictly logical and scientific, and he called it collectively the Religion of Humanity.1 Comte's Religion of Humanity was based on both theory and practice. Theoretically it involved a philosophy of government in which positivist elite groups organized and influenced a sociocratic state. In practice it involved worship by orthodox positivists in secular temples, the deification of Comte himself, a priesthood, a group of disciples and followers, a missionary program, the symbol of the Virgin, and many other ritualistic traits. Positivism, either modified or orthodox, was the system of thought adopted by hundreds of disciples, missionaries, and believers in many countries of Europe and Latin America. In France, Pierre Laffitte and Emile Littre were the main directors of the movement after
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