The Identity of Liberation in Latin American Thought

Through a close examination of philosopher Leopoldo Zea’s historicist phenomenology, Mario Sáenz offers fresh insights into the role of Mexican intellectuals in the creation of a Latin American “philosophy of liberation.” While this philosophy of liberation has been widely recognized as the most intellectual political ideology to emerge from Latin America this century, few scholars have specifically explored the Mexican roots of this movement. Sáenz redresses this imbalance by placing Zea and his contemporary intellectuals firmly within the context of post-revolutionary Mexico―a political and social landscape that fostered criticisms of colonial and neo-colonial structures of dependence. Sáenz demonstrates how Zea’s philosophy was informed by a sense of Mexico’s distinctive social and cultural identity.