Mexican Philosophy for the 21st Century: Relajo, Zozobra, and Other Frameworks for Understanding Our World

Mexican philosophers, conscious of a philosophical inheritance that threatened their own original contributions, sought to preserve difference by making their themes and vocabulary as Mexican as possible. Carlos Alberto Sánchez selects seven distinctly Mexican concepts and shows how to apply them to everyday human concerns. Explaining the context and thinkers associated with colonizing frameworks, mysticism, relajo, zozobra, nepantla, corazonada and tik, Sánchez goes beyond a standard introduction of Mexican philosophy. His sustained analysis of prominent concepts gives us a new vocabulary for understanding ourselves and the world we live in. Based on the concrete experience of Mexican life, we are introduced to influential thinkers and uniquely Mexican themes: the primacy of history and circumstance and the intrinsic value of community. Powered by a commitment to use Mexican philosophy to navigate the perplexing world we inhabit, Sánchez challenges the blanket application of Eurocentric philosophy to our 21st-century concerns. This is an essential starting point for Latin American philosophy scholars and anyone approaching Mexican philosophy for the very first time.