Philosophy of Praxis and Theory of History in Caio Prado. An original Marxist in the formation of contemporary Latin American thought

Abstract

The Brazilian Caio Prado Júnior is recognized as one of the most important Latin American Marxist thinkers. He stands out especially in the field of the Theory of History as the founder of modern historiographic analysis in Brazil, through his sophisticated dialectical interpretation of the national question of this country, but also for having been one of the pioneers in the conception of an authentic American Marxism. Having broken with positivist enlightenment traditions, his thought constituted itself as effectively “contemporary”, by understanding knowledge as a “dialectical process” in which “theory” and “practice” are interdependent activities: they build each other. Rejecting simplistic schemes –predominant in his time and marked by Eurocentrism–, his reading of Marxism for the Brazilian reality makes a rich and creative historical-dialectical analysis of his nation. Besides having contributed to several Human Sciences, Caio Prado also stands out as a philosopher, having dedicated to Marxist philosophy works in which he discusses the history of dialectical knowledge, as well as others in which he exposes the concept of “sense” –fundamental for his Theory of History.

Keywords

• marxism
• latin american thought
• theory of history
• philosophy of praxis
• dialectics
• brazilian national question