Antonio Caso Andrade (December 19, 1883 – March 6, 1946) was a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and rector of the former ''Universidad Nacional de México'', nowadays known as the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

from December 1921 to August 1923. Along with

José Vasconcelos José Vasconcelos Calderón (28 February 1882 – 30 June 1959), called the "cultural " of the Mexican Revolution, was an important Mexican writer, philosopher, and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial personalities ...

, he founded the

Ateneo de la Juventud Ateneo may refer to: Cultural institutions * Ateneo de la Juventud, a society of Mexican writers, philosophers and intellectuals * Ateneo de Madrid, a private cultural institution located in the capital of Spain * Ateneo de Ponce, a nonprofit, ...

, a

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

group against philosophical positivism. The Athenian generation opposed

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...

and

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest" ...

’s philosophical views, giving credence to and expanding on the ideas of Henri Bergson, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and

José Enrique Rodó José Enrique Camilo Rodó Piñeyro (15 July 1871 – 1 May 1917) was a Uruguayan essayist. He cultivated an epistolary relationship with important Hispanic thinkers of that time, Leopoldo Alas (Clarín) in Spain, José de la Riva-Agüero in P ...

. Caso opposed

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...

. His group the ''ateneistas'' believed in a moral, willing, and spiritual individual being.Biography on Caso from UNAM
/ref> He was the older brother of archaeologist

Alfonso Caso Alfonso Caso y Andrade (February 1, 1896 in Mexico City – November 30, 1970 in Mexico City) was an archaeologist who made important contributions to pre-Columbian studies in his native Mexico. Caso believed that the systematic study of ancient M ...

Philosophical Work

In the summer of 1909, Caso presented his critiques of

positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...

in a series of conferences later expanded in the third edition by the Athenians of Youth. He was inspired by the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

philosophical tradition, in particular by

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...

and Tolstoy. Caso distinguishes three aspects of human existence: economic, aesthetic, and moral. Caso refuted

Gabino Barreda Gabino Barreda (born Puebla, 1818 – died Mexico City 1881) was a Mexican physician and philosopher oriented to French positivism. After participating in the Mexican–American War defending his country as a volunteer, he studied medicine in ...

’s thesis and the first

Justo Sierra Justo Sierra Méndez (January 26, 1848 – September 13, 1912), was a Mexican prominent liberal writer, historian, journalist, poet and political figure during the Porfiriato, in the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth ...

that the future of Mexico was built primarily on basis of a scientific doctrine. In the work "

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Jacobinism A Jacobin (; ) was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary political movement that was the most famous political club during the French Revolution (1789–1799). The club got its name from meeting at the Dominican rue Saint-Honoré M ...

and Positivism" included in the book Discursos a la nacion mexicana (Discourses to the Mexican nation) Caso deepens his criticism of two of the hegemonic ideologies in the late nineteenth century:

(or extreme liberalism) and positivism. The supporters of the first accuse them of ignoring reality, while those in the second get the blame for the alleged inevitability of reality. Antonio Caso is a pioneer in the Mexican philosophy that was developed later by

Samuel Ramos Samuel Ramos Magaña, PhD (1897 – June 20, 1959), was a Mexican philosopher and writer. Ramos was born in Zitácuaro, Michoacán, and in 1909 entered the Colegio de San Nicolás Hidalgo (Michoacán's state university). He published his f ...

Leopoldo Zea Aguilar Leopoldo Zea Aguilar (June 30, 1912 – June 8, 2004) was a Mexican philosopher. Biography Zea was born in Mexico City. One of the integral Latin Americanism thinkers in history, Zea became famous thanks to his master's thesis, ''El Positivis ...

, and

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...

among others. In his book ''El problema de México y la ideología nacional'', (The problem of Mexico and the nation ideology) published in 1924, Caso argues Mexico’s biggest problem is the lack of unity (racial, cultural and social). Towards the end of his life, Caso was influenced by the philosophies of Husserl, Scheler, and Heidegger, especially Husserl, whose ideas were reflected in the book ''La filosofía de Husserl, El acto ideatorio, La persona humana y el estado totalitario y El peligro del hombre.'' (Husserl's philosophy, ideatory The act, The human person and the totalitarian state, and the danger of man).

Works

• ''La filosofía de la intuición'', 1914 The philosophy of intuition, 1914 • ''El concepto de la historia universal'', 1918 The concept of universal history, 1918 • ''Sociología genética y sistemática'', 1927 Genetical and Systematical Sociology, 1927 • ''Principios de estética'', 1925 Principles of aesthetics, 1925 • ''El acto ideatorio'', 1934 The act ideatorio, 1934 • ''El peligro del hombre'', 1942 The danger of man, 1942

Philosophical Work

Works

References

Further reading