Abstract

GELVEZ HIGUERA, CARLOS RUBÉN. José Eusebio Caro's Positivism in Mecánica social (Social Mechanics): an Old Mistake in Colombian Historiography. Anu. colomb. hist. soc. cult. [online]. 2017, vol.44, n.1, pp.259-277. ISSN 0120-2456.  https://doi.org/10.15446/achsc.v44n1.61227.

The Colombian philosopher Jose Eusebio Caro is considered by some historians as the first Latin American positivist. In 1836, at 19 years old, he wrote the treatise Mecánica social o teoría del movimiento humano considerado en su naturaleza, en sus efectos y en sus causas (Social Mechanics or Theory of Human Movement Considered in Its Nature, Its Effects and Its Causes). This work shows an influence little studied in the history of ideas in Colombia: that of French physiology (the school of Victor Broussais, Georges Cabanis and Main de Biran), which also took from Auguste Comte's positivism. A study of the text denies the positivist affiliation of young Caro and places his thought within the radical liberal school of Charles Comte, the true influence behind Mecánica social.

Keywords : radical liberalism; positivism; ideology; philosophy; liberalism; historiography.

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