Philosophy from the other face of modernity

Abstract

Facing the idea of philosophy as a product of modernity, Luis Villoro propounds a mental experiment to regard philosophy the other way round. ‘From a certain point of view, topics and problems of modernity could be seen as one case among many. It would be philosophy with its permanent topics and problems, questions and uncertainties, but considered from our situation. And our situation is that of an observer placed in contemporary time, but also inside a cultural environment that cannot be completely western because it is the product of the cultural domination of the West, nor completely modern because of its different traditions’. A non-western mentality is needed thus for this possible new philosophy, and Villoro highlights the ideas maintained even today by native American people on the one hand, and the independent Latin American philosophy on the other. The consideration of these two thought manifestations from the other face of modernity, will lead Villoro to suggest ‘some general regulating ideas that, without compromising its authors, could point out to a possible way to come in the Mexican philosophy [...] These regulating ideas show the path to a new philosophy, different from the prevailing one in the modern West.’ Such philosophy, because of its revolutionary character regarding the domination of the modern western view, would constitute a philosophy from the other face of modernity: ‘a philosophy of the other’.