núm. 77 (jl-di) (2010): rodolfo kusch: filosofía y cultura en américa latina

The following study makes a general presentation of the Argentinean philosopher Rodolfo Kusch’s proposal about an American ontology, whose reflection places would turn around peculiar ways that American men have and, particularly, from the perspective of the different cosmo-visions of Amerindian thinking, the sense of categories that are important to philosophy, such as nature, the being, diversity, and affectivity

In his philosophical work, the Argentinean thinker Rodolfo Kusch seeks to unravel the Indian and countryman’s thinking to highlight the ecological clinging spirit of America which is deeply rooted in land and life. Land is not only reduced to the four cardinal points, it is not divided in different soils either, and soil is the extension. It indicates the situation, anchored in the category of “to be” on the land. The American ecological thinking should be searched as a very deep root without using strength, for life is deeply rooted in the depths of the earth and it should not be pulled up by mediations altering the nature of processes of being on earth. This way, the ecological-cosmological thinking becomes the matrix or basis of an indigenous cosmological philosophy which, in turn, is the manager of other structures, such as politics, architecture, economics, religion and other environments of its cultural organization, either as an empire, a civilization or an organized community. Thus, its cosmic-ecological conception is the basis or the root which is born from the seed over which the main American empires are built.

This article, written on the occasion of the 30 years from Rodolfo Kusch’s death, focuses on the concept of to be-being. Such a concept is the articulation core of To be-To happen categories essential to understand Kusch’s philosophy as an event of originating donation.

Rodolfo Kusch belongs to that generation of Argentinean –and Latin American− thinkers who dared to deal philosophically with the problem of humanity from the perspective of our subcontinent's popular thinking. These pages propose a brief presentation of the philosophical recovery of the knowledge contained in popular religious symbols and the way they operate, concentrating in the analysis of two early works: América Profunda (Deep America) and El pensamiento indígena y popular en América (The Indigenous and Popular Thinking in America). In these works, Kusch develops a first approach to the popular religious symbol as production of a certain totality configuration, in other words, it is the configuration of a horizon of endness, where the possibilities of existence deploy and gather: the world, god and the man appear –in the mutual devotion of their “simple being” (“mero estar”)– as the so, the anger and the homelessness do.

The philosophical legacy that Rodolfo Kusch left us has increasing presence and value in this long journey of discovering us as Americans. The passion of this profound thinker for the deep America is a source of inspiration for those who believe that living in America is not just a geographical episode but a horizon from and from which we build our identity. In this paper, I recreate his aesthetic considerations set out in his essay “Anotaciones para una estética de lo americano” (Notes for an aesthetic of the American), written in 1955. Although this is one of the earliest writings of Rodolfo Kusch, numerous concepts are present that will then be extensively analyzed throughout his work. I believe that the approach to aesthetic considerations have not been as frequently studied as other aspects of his thought (being-being, geoculture, symbol and religion, etc.). Therefore, I think that this work may constitute a preliminary guidance for future interpretations and still be a humble tribute to his philosophy, which over the years, is encouraging old and new generations of thinkers dedicated to Latin American philosophy.

This paper is about the proposal by Rodolfo Kusch about an anthropology of the American man taking into account some of his distinguished works of anthropological thought. The paper begins with the question about the status category. From philosophical distinctions made between being and be, the author addresses the question of American identity as people, to indicate how the popular speech in its naming and silencing, constitutes the basis of what the American man may be. After describing the consolidation of the American man behind the dualism-reason myth and the formulation of the incommensurability of the American man to criteria that are discordant, we suggest another way of thinking, in this case designing an anthropology, another line to address humanity in relation to the existing order. Thus we suggest the idea that America's problem is to recover the full potential of thinking and knowing to bet on the future and this is done when reviewing income, educational and artistic levels of the American man.

The article analyzes in detail one of the works of Rodolfo Kusch, Esbozo para una antropología filosófica americana (Sketch for an American Philosophical Anthropology), intending to lay the methodological foundations of a proposed analysis of anthropological discourse, describing the human condition characteristic of the Latin America peoples without falling into the two traditional positions, namely, the philosophical foundation of the question: What is man?, mode of action that usually builds a universal vision of men, regardless of cultural differences that is, values, symbols and traditions that cement from the base to the having of individuals inhabiting a people, and on the other hand, looking at the problem beyond the scientific anthropology, which tends to epistemically undermine cultural expressions which show the symbolics of a community, in its practices and especially in its language, where the ontological meaning and foundation of American culture dwells.

The combination of the macroevent Bicentennial of Abiayalenses independence and the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Kusch, gives us an opportunity to renew some intercultural proposals related to our historical and educational contexts about his work. Rodolfo Kusch thought the historical dimension from a perspective that does not necessarily correspond to what normally corresponds to the so-called philosophical normality and as the title suggests, it should be taken as intercultural philosophy and therefore also as the opening lines for liberating citizenships which are independently constructed and, as one of its assumptions, of lines for education which, from a real multiculturalism, also gives them the power of being more fully liberating.

The Humanities Department at Universidad Santo Tomás, in the current issue of Analysis magazine, gives tribute to one of the most original thinkers of Latin America.