Viajeros ilustrados y la Disputa del Nuevo Mundo: Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira y Tadeo Haenke ante el hombre americano

Abstract

The debate on American nature, which took place in the mid 18th century at the peak of the great scientific and exploratory voyages, confronted those who defended the exceptional nature of the New World with those who maintained its degenerated condition. The condemnation or vindication of the American man, emerged as a corollary of this discussion, were linked to a broader debate on the enlightened project to find constants in human nature. In the field of science this controversy deepened the Nature/Culture dichotomy as well as the preeminence of one over the other as the explanatory factor of the difference. With this context in mind, this paper analyzes the writings of Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira and Tadeo Haenke, two scientific voyagers who travelled through Meridional America, comparing their backgrounds, objectives and mainly their explanations of human diversity.