From American Empire to America Cosmica through Philosophy: Prospero's Reflection envisions a greater ideal American philosophy that integrates philosophies from across the Americas and is set to work resolving the problems that vex the peoples of the Americas. This work contributes to the rapidly growing dialogue on Inter-American philosophy with research that adds to the list of philosophical affinities across the Americas. However, Terrance MacMullan also delves deeply into the points of philosophical contention and misrecognition between Anglo-American and Ibero-American philosophies by reversing the colonial gaze of the last centuries. Following in the tradition of cultural theorists like Enrique Rodo and Roberto Fernandez Retamar, who draw on Shakespeare's The Tempest as a source of literary metaphors to understand colonialism and imperialism in the Americas, MacMullan argues that the United States will never achieve democratic community unless it first contends with the harsh critiques of its culture and philosophies reflected within the works of Latin American philosophers who prophesied and survived the imperialism of the North American Prospero but whose works are still largely unknown and unseen within U.S. universities.
Terrance MacMullan is professor of philosophy at Eastern Washington University.
Introduction: Inter-American Philosophy and the Hope for a Greater America Part I: Perils and Possibilities of Inter-American Philosophy Chapter 1: Prospero's Reflection Chapter 2: Inter-American Philosophic Unity as Fact, Propaganda, or Legitimate Aspiration Chapter 3: Inter-American Philosophical Affinities in the 19th Century Chapter 4: Early Pragmatist Affinities within Inter-American Philosophy Part II: Inter-American Philosophy as Resistance to Propaganda Chapter 5: The Stars and Stripes over Plaza de las Armas Chapter 6: Scrying Prospero's Empire: Inter-American Philosophy and Imperial Propaganda Chapter 7: Confronting the Seven League Giant: Marti and Rodo on Inter-American Philosophy as Resistance to Propaganda Chapter 8: Jose Vasconcelos and Pragmatism as Gunship Philosophy Chapter 9: Pedro Albizu Campos as the Socratic Gadfly of American Empire Part III: Inter-American Philosophy as a Legitimate Aspiration Chapter 10: Gloria Anzaldua and Confronting the Gringo Doppelganger Chapter 11: Juan Bautista Alberdi and Inter-American Philosophical Responses to el Caudillo Gringo Chapter 12: The American Redoubt and the Coyolxauqui Imperative: Remembering America through Inter-American Philosophy
