Lexington Books Latin American Positivism: New Historical and Philosophic Essays

"Latin American Positivism: Theory and Practice" examines the role of positivism in the intellectual and political life of three major nations: Colombia, Brazil, and México. In doing so, the authors first focus on the intellectual linkages and distinctions between Latin American positivists and their European counterparts. Also, they examine the impact of positivist theory on the political cultures of these nations and the more significant impact of the political and socio-economic cultures of those states upon positivist thought. Rather than asserting that the positivist movement was a moving force that reformatted many Latin American modalities, the authors demonstrate that the dynamics of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin American societies altered positivism to a greater extent that the positivists altered these nations. Review Gregory D. Gilson and Irving W. Levinson have put together the most comprehensive collection of essays on Latin American positivism currently available to English-speaking readers. In print for the first time, these essays will revitalize interest in a fruitful intellectual period in Latin America. They are an indispensable source for scholars of history, positivism, and Latin American philosophy.--Susana Nuccetelli, St. Cloud State University About the Author Gregory D. Gilson received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He has served as the editor of the “Newsletter on Hispanic Issues in Philosophy” (the journal of the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on Latin American Philosophy) and currently serves as an editor for the Inter-American Journal of Philosophy. He has published pedagogical essays about teaching Latin American philosophy. He also has co-authored a dictionary of the major figures in Latin American Philosophy included in “A Companion to Latin American Philosophy” (New York: Wiley-Blackwell, December, 2010). He is currently is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Philosophy at the University of Texas - Pan American. Irving W. Levinson, a Fulbright Scholar, received his Ph.D. with honors from the University of Houston and currently is an Assistant Professor of Latin American History at the University of Texas – Pan American. He specializes in Mexican history and is the author of “Wars within War: Mexican Guerrillas, Domestic Elites, and the United States of America 1846-1848” as well of several articles including “Spanish Policy on the Northern Frontier: Limited Resources and Varied Responses” and “A New Paradigm for an Old Conflict: The Mexico-United States War.”