APA Newsletter on Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy
Author(s)
Manuel Vargas
Abstract
This article examines the varied roles of canons in general and in philosophy in particular, with special attention to Mexican philosophy as a case study. Recent work in Mexican philosophy, especially in the form of a recent anthology by Sánchez and Sanchez, points to the formation of a set of canonical figures and text in Anglophone work on Mexican philosophy. This raises a number of ethically complex issues, including the disproportionate role of U.S. scholars in international canon formation, and the relationship of specialist work within Mexican philosophy to efforts to build bridges with philosophical communities not already invested in the specialist area. The article points to various places where more work remains to be done within Mexican philosophy, including greater attention on women philosophers, philosophers located outside of Mexico City, and questions about whether to include more liminal-seeming figures and traditions within the scope of Mexican philosophy. Arguably, the most promising model of what success might look like for this subfield would be for that work to escape its siloing as being of interest only to specialists in Mexican or Latin American philosophy.
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