Political philosophy, ethnology, and time: a study of the notion of historical handicap


Autoria(s): Feres Jr,João
Data(s)

01/06/2002

Resumo

This article starts by identifying the crucial importance of the notion of historical handicap for the present-day social sciences of Latin America. Such notion is not an original invention made by Latinamericanists. On the contrary, I demonstrate that the genealogy of the notion of historical handicap must be sought in the tradition of Western political philosophy. Such genealogy must take into account the way it was integrated into ethnological descriptions. When and how did the Other become the backward, the primitive? While this relation was secondary for ancient Greek thought, theories of historical development became the main source of ethnological categories in the modern era. Interestingly enough, this modern synthesis suited the practical purpose of justifying two successive waves of European imperialistic: the era of discoveries, and 19th century colonialism. The article concludes by raising questions about the present role and application of the social sciences.

Formato

text/html

Identificador

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-512X2002000100004

Idioma(s)

en

Publicador

Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas da UFMG

Fonte

Kriterion: Revista de Filosofia v.43 n.105 2002

Tipo

journal article