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Facets of Mexican Thought: José Vasconcelos (1871-….)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Kurt F. Reinhardt*
Affiliation:
Standford University

Extract

Modern Ibero-American thought is generally neither distinguished by originality nor by systematic integrity. The Mexican philosophers Antonio Caso and José Vasconcelos, both to-day well advanced in years, are two notable exceptions to this rule. Both are systematic thinkers as well as prolific writers, and Vasconcelos combines with a synthetic view of life and civilization a vigorous originality of expression, two gifts which in their conjunction make it quite understandable that he is regarded by many of the intellectual leaders of Latin America as one of the most representative exponents of Ibero-American ideas in general and of Mexican philosophic thought in particular. A comprehensive monograph, dealing with the life and work of José Vasconcelos is being published this autumn by Dr. Oswaldo Robles, Professor of Philosophy at the National University of Mexico and Academic Rector of the Latin-American Military University in Mexico City. The writings of Vasconcelos comprise more than twenty volumes of works on metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics; a History of Philosophy; a History of Mexico; essays, biographies, and tragedies; and an extensive autobiography in four volumes. The author of this imposing oeuvre is at present Director of the National Library of Mexico and engaged in carrying through important reforms in that venerable institution.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1945

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References

1 A valuable summary of the philosophy of Antonio Caso (1883-) is presented by Crawford, William Rex in A Century of Latin-American Thought (Harvard University Press, 1945, pp. 276292).Google Scholar

2 Editorial Jus, México, D. F.

3 Most of Vasconcelos’s works are listed by Crawford, (I.e., p. 310), the more important ones being Indología, una interpretación de la cultura iberoamericana (Barcelona, n. d.); La raza cósmica: misión de la raza iberoamericana (Paris, n. d.); Hispano-américa frente a los nacionalismos agresivos de Europa y Estados Unidos (La Plata, 1934); Estética (México, 1936); ?Qué es la revolución? (México, 1937); Etica (México, 2a ed., 1939).—Cf. also Crawford (I.e., pp. 260–276); and Vasconcelos, serie Ediciones de la Secretaría de Educación Pública (México, 1942). Prologo y selección de Genaro Fernández MacGregor.Google Scholar