IDENTITY AND UNITY IN LATIN-AMERICA

Abstract

The Mexican philosopher Jaime Labastida criticizes in this essay the postulation of identity as one of the basic categories and indisputable principies of social science, when speaking of Latin-American problems. After analyzing the origins and development of the concept in Western Culture, its opposite arises: the principle of the indiscernables, of the different. The author supports meanwhile the thesis of passive national identity, the thesis of the relationship that is supported in the principle of the indiscernables, the unity of the diverse that mandates creation and building.