Author: Rivera, Agustín
Title: La Filosofia En la Nueva España [Bound with] Treinta Sofismas I Un Buen Argumento Del Señor Doctor D. Agustin de la Rosa. .
Description: Lagos, V. Veloz a cargo de A. Lopez Arce, 1885. First edition. Quarter morocco over marbled boards, spine lettered and decorated in gilt. [1 lv], 402 pp.; [1 lv], 210 pp. 8vo. Two rare works by Agustin Rivera on the the merits of intellectual life during the Colonial Mexico, the first, which began what would be a continued and bitter controversy over the history of Philosophy in Mexico, and the second a response to criticism by his chief antagonist, Agustin de la Rosa (1824-1907). 1. Rivera, Agustín. La filosofia en la Nueva España: o sea Disertacion sobre el atraso de la Nueva España en las ciencias filosoficas, precedida de dos documentos. Lagos: V. Veloz a cargo de A. Lopez Arce, 1885. 8vo. [1 lv], 402 pp. First edition. Palau 270170. "Rivera's La Filosofía en la Nueva España is almost an anthology of "testimonios" or evidence; that is, a collection of extensive annotations and citations of the documents, organized chronologically and topically. The main thesis is that scholastic philosophy was backward, biased against Modern philosophy, and mediocre. It points out that there were no philosophers of stature during the period, not even the Jesuits who, when we look at the actual documents turn out not to have taught modern science at all but the Aristotelian physics in disguise. For instance, Rivera continues, a 1764 physics syllabus from the Colegio de Santo Tomás de Guadalajara shows that "they taught the first causes, the virtues of the secondary causes, the supernatural operations, the sacrament of the Eucharist, eternity, and everything else but Physics. Said program, in addition, demonstrates ignorance of logic and modern metaphysics .. It is stated in history that the Jesuits were at the educational vanguard in Nueva España schools. And if they taught such things, what did they teach in the rearguard?"* [with] 2. Rivera, Agustín. Treinta sofismas i un buen argumento del señor doctor D. Agustin de la Rosa, canónigo honorario de la Catedral de Guadalajara: al impugnar el libro "La filosofía en la Nueva España" en su periódico "La religión y la sociedad": opúsculo de polémica. Lagos: Impreso A. Lopez Arce, 1887. 8vo. [1 lv], 210 pp. First edition. Palau 270171. Agustin answers his chief critic, Agustin de la Rosa, who published this response in "La Religión y la sociedad: Periódico religioso, político, científico y literario [ Guadalajara: 1865-1888]. Agustin de la Rosa would go on to further answer Rivera with a short treatise, "praising Colonial philosophy, and pointing to its influence in education. He argued that the reason for the lack of philosophers of stature during the Colonial period was not because of a lack of talent or of backwardness, but because scholasticism was a philosophical school that had been introduced to Nueva España centuries after it had reached its pinnacle in Europe, and because its practitioners in the New World lacked the time and resources to teach it or to fully develop its implications."* * See: Oscar R Marti: "Breaking with the past: philosophy and its history in Latin America" in The Role of History in Latin American Philosophy: Contemporary Perspectives ( Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005) p. 90-91. Agustín Rivera y Sanromán (1824-1916) was a priest, historian, and prolific Mexican writer. Both are very uncommon. We could locate none at auction on the leading auction record sites. A good copy, extremities worn, front joint separating, chip at head of spine, rear marbled paper worn through and chipped, minor marginal dampstain to a last leaves, contents clean, crisp, and unmarked.

Keywords: , Latin America, Religion & Philosophy, Mexico, Mexico, Book Religion & Philosophy


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