The Power of the Metaphysical Artifact

Obed Frausto is assistant professor of humanities at Ball State University, Indiana,

In The Power of the Metaphysical Artifact, Obed Frausto insightfully traces the opposition between the positivism of Comte and the spiritualism of Cousin as these philosophies traveled from France to Mexico. Informed by sociological theory, Frausto shows how key philosophical movements of the nineteenth century took on opposed political values in Europe and the Americas. A significant contribution to global intellectual history, this book shows the value of the comparative study of the ideologies and institutions of industrialization and modernity.--John Tresch, School of Advanced Study, University of London The book is an amazing comparative research about controversies between postivist and humanist traditions in Mexico and France from an original and revealing perspective of the political philosphy of science.--Ambrosio Velasco Gomez, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Obed Frausto excellently integrates in a coherent system of intelligibility, that of the artifact of metaphysics, different parameters such as socialization networks, systems of representation, motivations, intentionality and individual social actions, emerging in two very different contexts of power and knowledge organization.--Andoni Ibarra, Editor of Theoria: An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science