Latin American philosophy and the religious factor

Abstract

In this essay, the author explores the topic of religion in the debate on a Latin American philosophy in Augusto Salazar Bondy (1960’s). The arguments focus on religion and philosophy, generally considered opposite, dissociated or overlapping. The question is: How important is the religious factor when thinking about the need for one’s own Latin American philosophy To answer this question, an explanation about philosophy and religion is made. Secondly, religion is analyzed as and innate characteristic or not to human beings, as well as some reflections on the relationship between religion and philosophy through History, and the meaning of Eurocentric thought. Thirdly, what is the significance of the religious factor in Salazar Bondy’s proposal. Fourthly, due to Salazar’s critical analysis of the possibility of an authentic Latin American thought is doubtful, the contributions of Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui on this subject, 40 years before, are considered an example. Finally, the Liberation Theology is explained not like a “philosophy” but like creation of a Latin American thought that took into account “the religious factor” of these communities. At the end, this essay proposes four reflections instead of final conclusions.