Latin American positivist ideas in the XIX century

Abstract

When historically reviewing Latin America’s ideas, it becomes mandatory to establish frontiers in an attempt to create an action field to support the study. This implies talking about the philosophical systems in and from a historical framework, the European conditions and the places where thought was built. The objective of this document is to approach the Latin American positivist ideas in the XIX century, identifying three main elements: the concept of “positivism” – where qualities and distinctive features will be explained – the positivist trend and its principles, illustrated by Augusto Comte and Herbert Spencer’s systems, two of the most aknowledged theoreticians in our continent, and finally an approximation to a possible systematization of the influence that the practice of this philosophical trend had during the XIX century in Latin America.