From “Anxiety” to “Morning Gaiety”

On the Rise of Carlos Astrada’s “Latin American Philosophy”

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to analyse the rise of Carlos Astrada’s “Latin American Philosophy”. To this end, it argues that this project arose together with two other central dimensions of the final decades of his intellectual trajectory: his rejection of existentialism and his adherence to Marxism. These three dimensions appear articulated for the first time in “La filosofía latinoamericana como exponente de una cultura autónoma” (1954). The article is divided into three sections, each seeking to reconstruct and highlight the “path” leading to the dimensions in question. The first section examines Astradian’s approach to Marxism, which took place in the late 1940s. This development is linked to his “revolutionary” interpretation of existentialism as “the philosophy of our time.” By the mid-1950s, however, he introduced a decisive break between the two philosophical currents. The second section addresses Astrada’s challenge to the “late” Heidegger, against whom he upholds the orientation opened by Sein und Zeit. This interpretative operation, carried out in the early 1950s, allowed him both to reject the Kehre and to value existentialism as a “philosophy” and as a “spiritual climate.” Only a few years later, he would consider Hedeigger’s philosophy, as well as existentialism more broadly, to be entirely exhausted. Finally, the third section seeks to condense the findings drawn from the analysis of “La filosofía latinoamericana...” and other related texts, while bringing to light the links between the dimensions discussed and the philosophical-political task that Astrada regarded as central: the elaboration of a Latin American Philosophy.