Mestizo Democracy: The Politics of Crossing Borders

4. A Post-liberation Philosophy and Theology

A Postliberation Philosophy and Theology •          A Post-liberation Philosophy and Theology I n this chapter I consider the relevance of Enrique Dussel’s liberation philosophy to the realization of a mestizo democracy. Although I am sympathetic to Dussel’s critique of Eurocentric modernity and his articulation of transmodernity, I contend— principally through the work of Octavio Paz—that Dussel’s arguments ironically manifest a Eurocentric “hangover.” By contrast, the mixing of heritages on a lateral and equal basis intrinsic to a mestizo democracy emerges as a vital resource for moving beyond Eurocentrism in the twenty-first century. The merit of Dussel’s project is that he recognizes the limitations (and the graphic ramifications) of modernity without opting for a type of postmodernity that deems universal communication among peoples impossible . Therefore, his elucidation of a transmodernity provides for a critique of both neo-Kantian schemes of universal communication—in particular, Habermas and Rawls—and postmodern arguments that dwell on local and particular discourses.I amplify this latter critique of postmodernity through the work of Roberto Goizueta. If in chapter  I suggested that a mestizo democracy moves between assimilation and separatism when it comes to multicultural relations, in this chapter I chart a path between the contemporary contending poles of modern and postmodern rationalities. In turn, engaging Dussel’s liberation philosophy in a critical fashion also provides a basis for reevaluating liberation theology. Two decades ago liberation theology was the lodestone of radicalism in Latin America. Most observers are well aware of the controversy it has engendered within the institutional Roman Catholic Church.Formal critiques made by theVatican and the appointment of conservative bishops to posts across Latin America  • ThePoliticsofMulticulturalism have indeed diminished its practical impact. But in terms of Dussel’s focus on the import of modernity, the more critical evaluations of liberation theology have not come from the right but from the left—particularly those radical theologies stressing indigenous cultures, the environment, and gender concerns. In other words, the limitations of Dussel’s argument— defined especially by the degree to which a Hegelian/Marxist paradigm still drives his thinking—are also relevant to the prospect of liberation theology . A critical engagement of Dussel provides the opportunity to project a post-liberation theology consonant with mestizaje. Engaging the Critique of Eurocentric Modernity     Dussel’s thesis in The Invention of the Americas is that the rise of so-called modern civilization in Europe over the past five centuries is intrinsically connected to the European colonization of the Americas and, then, most of the rest of the non-European world. Prior to , Dussel contends, Europe was a backwater in terms of international relations and power. Blocked to the east by the Islamic world, the center of Mediterranean civilization at the time—Spain and Portugal, followed by France, Holland, and England— expand to the west to chart a new route to the riches of the Indies. These European ventures instead encounter and conquer the so-called “New World,” whose vast resources in turn enable the European nation-states to emerge as the preeminent powers of the modern era:“In my opinion, western Europe’s bursting the bounds within which Islam had confined it, gave birth to modernity.”1 The myth of modernity, according to Dussel, is the projection of European superiority onto the rest of the world, simultaneous with the conquest and colonization of the world by the European powers. He cites numerous excerpts from Hegel that suggest this superiority complex, for instance: “Universal history goes from East to West. Europe is absolutely the end of universal history. Asia is the beginning.”2 Specifically,Dussel examines the notion of a linear development,according to which some cultures are less mature than others; they are, therefore, supposedly still in need of development, and he traces this “development” back to Kant’s rendering of enlightenment as “the exit of humanity by itself from a state of culpable immaturity.”3 Therefore, intrinsic to modern A Postliberation Philosophy and Theology •  European philosophy, in Dussel’s analysis, is this notion of Europe as the center of civilization with the rest of world on the periphery in a developing stage, not just economically but intellectually and emotionally speaking : “European modernity constitutes all other cultures as its periphery.”4 Dussel focuses primarily on the conquest of the Americas because it is the first region on the so-called periphery to feel the wrath of European...