Latin American Positivism: New Historical and Philosophic Essays

Greg Gilson · Irving Levinson

Dec 2012 · Lexington Books

About this ebook

“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.

About the author

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.”