Abstract

LOPEZ, HORACIO GONZÁLEZ  and  SANCHEZ, IRENE MARQUINA. THE PARADOXES OF HEROISM AND CIVILIZATION IN IGNACIO MANUEL ALTAMARINO. Rev. Comunic [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.3, pp.129-147. ISSN 2238-121X.  https://doi.org/10.15600/2238-121X/comunicacoes.v24n3p129-147.

This paper aims to unveil the perspective held by the Mexican writer and a man of many talents, Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, about two concepts that were esential to the social and political changes faced by the XIXth century Mexico: on one side, the concept of hero —– and, with it, the concept of heroism –, and on the other side the concept of Civilization. The last notion is approached from the standpoint offered by the analysis conducted by Norbert Elias about the sociogenesis of that same notion. A brief historical inquiry shows that, by the end of XIXth Century, French thinkers were already aware of some of the contradictions implied by that concept. That historical inquiry also shows that the contradictions found in Altamirano’s writings are not exclusive to the perspective held by the Mexican thinker.

Keywords : ELIAS; HERO; HEROIS; CIVILIZATION; ALTAMARINO.

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