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Omfatter også følgende navne: Oscar Terán, Oscar Terán, TERÁN TERÁN OSCAR

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Muy buen curso, se lee agil y ràpido y sin embargo es profundo y da ganas de seguir profundizando. Excelente para repasar algunos aspectos que se nos escapan de la historia argentina y los fundamentos ideológicos de la misma
 
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gneoflavio | Feb 16, 2014 |
The author presents his book as an investigation into a series of discourses produced by the Argentine ruling elite (more specifically, intellectuals with boatloads of "cultural capital" in mainstream Argentina) between 1880 and the centennial celebrations of 1910. He goes on to specify that he's chosen to focus on people whose ideas were developed within what he terms the "scientific culture" of the time. By this he means "that set of theoretical interventions that recognize the prestige of science and its legitimizing role in their argumentation." This term, for Terán, has a wider scope than "Positivism," and reflects the fact that, while positivist thought had a great deal of influence on these thinkers, they were influenced by other intellectual traditions as well. In sum, he sets out to "construct a world of ideas and beliefs held by a group of cultural agents situated at the peak of the Buenos Aires social and/or intellectual pyramid."

Who are these big shots? Miguel Cané, José María Ramos Mejía, Carlos Octavio Bunge, Ernesto Quesada, and José Ingenieros. Each one gets his own chapter, and each chapter builds a detailed representation of their place in wider intellectual currents during a time when there were a great deal of new ideas and theories floating around. These gentlemen were united not only by their use of scientific/"scientific" discourses, but also by a tendency to figure out ways to guide Argentine society into a future wherein they would retain their elite position. The chapter on Cané, for instance, links his thought with a tradition that also includes José Enrique Rodó's Ariel, whereby democracy is a concept viewed with apprehension, because of the perceived social levelling or mediocritization of civil society if everyone is given an equal lot in the leadership of the nation. The masses are also viewed with apprehension: Ramos Mejía, inspired by the anthropological criminology of Cesare Lombroso, wrote extensively on their psychology and how the multitude might be effectively understood and guided as his country absorbed hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Finally, Argentineity is another common preoccupation among all the intellectuals studied by Terán. Especially as the centennial celebrations approached, all of the men studied in this book ruminated on what it meant to be Argentine.

This was a very satisfying read, and helpful in its focus: the ideas of these men were often misguided, and sometimes downright reprehensible. Nonetheless, they were calling the intellectual shots on the national level in those days, founding the various departments of the national university and participating in international dialogues on important issues. Furthermore, their books are nearly always available on Google Books these days, so their ideas and theories are available to study here in the 21st century. Sometimes, really innovative things can be done with their works: Augusto Roa Bastos, for example, surely drew heavily from Ramos Mejía's psychological profile of José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia when he wrote Yo, el Supremo, even if the methodology used in his Neuroses de los hombres célebres en la historia argentina is completely untenable these days (I'm pretty sure).

Basically, I think I just enjoy reading about the bad ideas and bad theories proposed by people in the past. It's a good change of pace, and I like learning about stuff that decidedly hasn't stood the test of time. Terán is a gifted writer and is great at weaving together all the different intellectual currents that inspired these men's work. He's sympathetic when he needs to be, and he's creative in his study of people whose ideas he sometimes abhors. His chapter on Bunge, for example, sort of builds you up to the really horrible racist theories, while giving you subtle hints that it's coming in future pages.

So it was an enjoyable read and it helped me better understand how European thought penetrated Argentine intellectual life in elite circles. It's a valuable book to any student of Argentine intellectual history, and I'll keep it on my bookshelf until the library makes me bring it back.
… (mere)
½
 
Markeret
msjohns615 | Jun 27, 2013 |

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18
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65
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#261,994
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½ 3.5
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ISBN
15

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