José María Ramos Mejía (1849–1914) was an Argentine politician and historian.

Biography

He was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

in 1849, son of colonel Matías Ramos Mejía and Francisca Madero. He made studies of medicine, promoting changes to the academic standards in 1871, which would be achieved between 1873 and 1880. He graduated in 1879, with a thesis about brain trauma. He kept working at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

, and headed the newly created professorship of nerve pathology in 1887. He made further studies of nerve and mental pathology, being considered later as one of the first researchers of

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

in Argentina. He was vice president of the Buenos Aires municipal commission in 1882, first director of public assistance in 1883, national deputy between 1888 and 1892, head of the National department of hygiene between 1893 and 1899, and president of the National Council of Education. He died in 1914.

Work as historian

His first book, "''Neurosis de los hombres célebres en la historia argentina''" () was started during his studies, and published in 1887. His work was influenced by

Vicente Fidel López Vicente Fidel López (April 24, 1815 in Buenos Aires – August 30, 1903) was an Argentine historian, lawyer and politician. He was the son of writer and politician Vicente López y Planes. Biography He studied at the school of Moral Sciences wit ...

, and influenced later historians as

José Ingenieros José Ingenieros (born Giuseppe Ingegnieri, April 24, 1877October 31, 1925) was an Argentine physician, pharmacist, positivist philosopher and essayist. He was born in Palermo (Italy), and graduated from the University of Buenos Aires School ...

, Lucio López and

Luis Agote Luis Agote (September 22, 1868 – November 12, 1954) was an Argentine physician and researcher. He was the first to perform a non-direct blood transfusion using sodium citrate as an anticoagulant. The procedure took place in Rawson hospital i ...

. As a historian, he rejected the current tradition of making studies of history with the point of view fixed on elites or notable key people, but rather on the social groups that promoted those peoples into importance. He considered the

Argentine War of Independence The Argentine War of Independence () was a secessionist civil war (until 1816) fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli, Martín Miguel de Güemes, Martin Miguel de Guemes and José de ...

as the result of romantic peoples, the

Argentine Civil War The Argentine Civil Wars were a series of civil conflicts of varying intensity that took place in the territories of Argentina from 1814 to 1853. Beginning concurrently with the Argentine War of Independence (1810–1818), the conflict prevente ...

as the result of aggressive peoples, and his own time period of 1890 as the result of passive peoples. He included

phrenologist Phrenology is a pseudoscience that involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. It is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or ...

analysis of historical peoples, as part of a new wave of positivist historians that sought to combine history with science.Gelman, p. 204 However, phrenology is currently rejected as a pseudo-science.

Works

* Neurosis de los hombres célebres en la historia Argentina (1887) * Las multitudes argentinas (1899) * La locura en la historia. Contribución al estudio psicopatológico del fanatismo religioso y sus persecuciones (1895) * Los simuladores del talento en las luchas por la personalidad y la vida (1904) * Rosas y su tiempo (1907)

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramos Mejia, Jose 20th-century Argentine historians Argentine male writers Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province Phrenologists University of Buenos Aires alumni 1849 births 1914 deaths Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery Argentine male non-fiction writers 19th-century Argentine historians