Collision between the rational and the religious in the outlook of Francisco Javier Clavijero

Abstract

[eng] The article is dedicated to the mental conflict which became one of the characteristic features of The Mexican Enlightenment. The distribution in the Creole environment of new philosophical ideas, that came from Europe, in the initial phase led to a collision between two different types of thinking. This process was most pronounced in the works of the Mexican Jesuit thinkers whose member was Francisco Javier Clavijero. He grew up in a religious Creol family and chose the path of service to God. From early years Clavijero developed a thirst for knowledge. His first circle of interest was formed by philosophy, history and foreign languages. His meeting with new philosophical ideas led to collision between the rational and the religious in the Mexican thinker's outlook. He tried to reconcile these two approaches. In his philosophical and historical works Clavijero carried on partially to stand by traditional religious views but also he used rational arguments. The outcome was a bizarre combination of old and new philosophical ideas which symbolized a decline of traditional scholastic in Spanish colonies. Clavijero and his Jesuit colleagues set up a new era o the Enlightenment in the New Spain.