The Flea and the Elephant

Germán Marquínez Argote and the Relationship Between Latinamerican Philosophy and Normalization in Colombia

Abstract

The present text examines the relationship between the valuations of philosophical normalization in Colombia and the particular attempt of the philosopher Germán Marquínez Argote to carry out a history of colonial philosophy in a Latin Americanist key. This, in order to shed some light on the continuity of Latin American philosophy in Colombia with respect to the local process of philosophical normalization, thus following some of the conclusions of the history of writing practices. This continuity should not be understood as a sort of historical sequentiality, so that Latin American philosophy was the successor of "normalized" philosophy. On the contrary, it should be understood as a recurrence in the ways of valuing, which apparently would be in opposition according to the understanding of the former as regionalist philosophy and the latter as universalist. In this sense, the article involves three moments. In an introductory way, the local and Latin American philosophical scenario is contextualized, showing the presumed opposition between Latin Americanists and normalizers. Then, it is exposed how Marquínez Argore articulates the Latin Americanist project in Colombia and how it would pretend to be valuationally opposed to normalization. Finally, it is evidenced, through a narrative analysis of the texts that Marquínez Argote writes about philosophy in the Colony, how he reiterates the values of the normalizers. This allows us to conclude the central thesis of the article: the value continuity between Latin Americanists and normalizers, in contrast to their frequently assumed contradiction.