La filosofia latinoamericana come modello

The volume is not merely a reflection or a mirror of Leopoldo Zea's life thesis; while acknowledging the intellectual debt, the author has managed to develop their own path of analysis, proposing an independent and autonomous interpretation. The book is divided into two parts with a total of six chapters, which are the following:

LA LOTTA PER IL LOGOS AMERICANO
This chapter, focuses on the inauthentic genesis of philosophy in Latin America, rooted in the historical denial of the full humanity of the continent's inhabitants. The text begins by defining the Word (Logos) as the essential tool that guarantees the full condition of Man.
Western philosophy has historically controlled access to this prerogative, forcing the Latin American thinker to emerge from the margins and pose a coercive interrogation about the validity of their own philosophy and their very humanity, leading to the famous aporia: "Is there a philosophy of our America?"
The root of this anomaly dates back to the violent annexation of the continent into Universal History and the controversy between Las Casas and Sepúlveda, which questioned the ontology of the inhabitants. Despite defenses, the Europe of Modernity perpetuated a severe intellectual quarantine (with figures like Buffon and Hegel), treating Americans as beings whose humanity was a mere contingency to be justified. To demonstrate their humanity, Latin Americans were forced to attempt to resemble the European archetype—first the Christian one, then that of progress—implicitly accepting the Western standard. This attempt to amputate their own past and their mestizaje (racial and cultural mixing), seen as degeneration, led to a profound internal laceration.
The philosophizing of the nineteenth century was thus expressed in a fratricidal struggle between conservatism and liberalism, both utopian and aimed at grafting foreign models, falling into new forms of subordination.
The chapter concludes by recognizing that, despite all its formal inauthenticities, Latin American philosophy has always been authentic in its fundamental intent to affirm humanity. It points toward a new philosophical attitude that shifts from mere theory to the praxis of a liberating consciousness, aimed at subversion and effective action to definitively annul historical subordination.

LA NECESSITÀ DI ESSERE ORIGINALI
This chapter addresses the obsession with originality that has characterized Latin American thought. This obsession developed as a reaction to criticisms, such as those by Hegel, which labeled local philosophy as a mere "echo" or a "life of others" lacking autonomy. The fundamental goal is not to create extravagant philosophical systems, but rather to overcome the servile repetition of European models.
Figures like Simón Rodríguez and Andrés Bello championed the independence of thought, urging America to "be original" and "judge for yourselves," emphasizing that true originality lies in imitating the critical and reflexive attitude that made European systems great, rather than imitating the systems themselves.
According to Juan Bautista Alberdi, authentic philosophy for America cannot be universal; it must focus on the concrete and urgent problems of its own reality, particularly political philosophy and social order. Francisco Miró Quesada highlights a crucial difference from the West: while in Europe philosophy generally precedes action, in Latin America, political action comes first, with philosophy used a posteriori to provide justification. The text concludes that this practice of instrumentally using imported philosophies is not a sign of inauthenticity, but rather the path toward authenticity. American reality is so powerful that it adapts and distorts foreign theories, transforming what might seem like "bad copies" into expressions of its own specific human experience and necessity. The final authenticity resides in the consciousness to select and adapt Western tools to affirm the dignity of every person and definitively overcome the role of subordination.

FILOSOFIA: LOGICA O EMANCIPAZIONE?
This chapter criticizes the attempt to reduce philosophy solely to rigorous logic or science. This phenomenon is compared to nineteenth-century Positivism, arguing that such an approach, while necessary for acquiring technical knowledge, fails to resolve the problems of subordination and underdevelopment in Latin America.
The text asserts that the full dimension of philosophy is threefold: Rigor, Ethics, and Emancipation, or Ideology. Philosophy must act as a liberating consciousness that does not limit itself to the role of a "philosophical technician," but actively commits to transforming concrete reality.
It defends the committed philosophy, the "filosofía engagée", typical of the region, whose authenticity does not lie in creating grand metaphysical systems, but in confronting the urgent challenges posed by the condition of dependence. This approach integrates rigor as a tool for that purpose, and not as the ultimate goal.

FILOSOFIA PROPRIA DALL'INFLUENZA ESTERNA
This chapter Free from External Influence), analyzes the paradox of Latin American philosophy: its authentic consciousness flourished thanks to the very tools provided by a European current of thought, namely historicism. Historically, American philosophy had struggled with an inauthentic consciousness, divided between the old world it had left behind and the new world it did not feel entirely its own. The crucial turning point occurs when Europe enters a crisis, abandoning its claim to be the universal archetype and recognizing itself as "a man among others." This collapse of the exclusive model liberated the American person from the "mask" of inferiority. Figures like Alfonso Reyes and Graça Aranha consecrated this redemption, asserting that European culture must not prolong Europe, but must serve to express the specific contribution of the American person to the human experience.
The American person, free from complexes, finally understood themselves to be primarily and simply "Man," with a capital M. Authentic philosophizing in Latin America, therefore, manifests in multiple forms, from the essay to the novel. Although it starts from the concrete and the individual, it aspires to express the greatest unity of Humanity, applying universal critical tools to its own reality.

L'OSTACOLO DELL'UOMO DI FRONTE AL PENSIERO OCCIDENTALE
This chapter analyzes the profound crisis that has overwhelmed the self-conception of Western thought and the Western person, triggered by the trauma of the Second World War and the subsequent colonial liberation struggles.
The Western person, convinced of being the purest and most universal expression of humanity, is forced into a painful "stumble" (tropiezo) that obliges them to recognize the equal human dignity of others, specifically non-Western peoples.
This "obstacle" reveals the deep alienation and dehumanization of the West. While preaching humanism, the West reduced the other to an object and transformed itself into a mere instrument of its own system of technique and opulence. The consciousness of the other, forcefully asserted by the oppressed through resistance, thus becomes the irrefutable mirror that exposes the hypocrisy and guilt of the West, compelling philosophy toward a necessary introspection to rediscover its own lost humanity through the affirmation of the human value of those who had been denied.

INVERSIONE FILOSOFICA ATTRAVERSO L'USO DELLA COSCIENZA DELL'ALTRO
This chapter highlights a radical inversion of roles that has occurred in the Western philosophical landscape. It is no longer the Western person who imposes their own problematics as universal, but the question of the non-Western person that asserts itself as the central theme of philosophy.
This inversion is due to the fact that the humanity of the others, through its categorical resistance to domination and alienation, reveals the limits and the deep self-alienation of the Western person. Therefore, the crucial question for Latin America, Africa, and Asia is no longer that of imitating the West, but of establishing what the proper theme of the non-Western person is, and whether an entirely own philosophy already exists. What emerges is a philosophy of action that is less abstract and more decisive, one that does not limit itself to reflection but seeks to materialize the necessary changes to overcome the existing order. This new attitude, often manifested in political militancy, aspires to transcend local boundaries and stand as a model of the philosophy of man, valid wherever he may be found.