1 2 3 Studying ideas. A conversation from the South about the life of ideas and the reconfiguration of a disciplinary space 4 Studying ideas. A conversation from the South about the life of ideas and the reconfiguration of a disciplinary space Eduardo Devés Andrés Kozel ISBN: 978-956-6095-01-9 Santiago de Chile, agosto 2020 Primera edición en inglés Título original: Estudios Eidéticos. Una conservación desde el Sur sobre la vida de las ideas y la reconfiguración de un espacio disciplinar, 2018 URI http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/29516 Traducción: María Alejandra Bravo Alfaro Diseño de portada: Matías Villa Gestión editorial: Ariadna Ediciones http://ariadnaediciones.cl/ Obra bajo Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercialSinDerivadas 4.0 Internacional. 5 CONTENTS Introduction ........................................................... 7 Andrés Kozel 1. Itineraries, topics, relationships ...................... 11 2. Eidetic Studies as a Proposal for Disciplinary Reconfiguration ............................. 29 3. Entities and eidetic systems: definitions and ways to classify………………………....55 4. Ideas, Reality and Society: A Symbiotic Relationship?.................................90 5. Thinking of Changes at the Eidetic Level…106 6. Intellectual Networks and Eidetic Circulation .................................. 133 7. Eidetic Development and Applied Eidology .................................... 161 8. Beyond the Center ......................................... 177 9. Immersion in the Future ............................... 193 10. The Tailor’s Drawer ..................................... 215 Epilogue .............................................................. 253 Eduardo Devés Bibliography .......................................................... 255 Annex 1 ............................................................... 261 Annex 2 ............................................................... 262 Annex 3 ............................................................... 267 6 INTRODUCTION ANDRÉS KOZEL This book presents a series of discussions about the life of ideas. There is, as is well known, a generational gap between the two authors and protagonists. There is also a difference in what could be named as their coefficient of centrality within this scope of study. It must be clear from the beginning, that the question related to eidetic studies belongs to Devés. My personal role in this adventure has been of an empathetic and critical reader who, having the opportunity to talk on several occasions with the author, wants to better understand his proposal, so as to eventually help with its clarification and development. The conversations began in Buenos Aires in 2011, on the occasion of the intellectual journey through 100 Latin American cities taken by Eduardo Devés. They continued in Talca (Jornadas de las Ideas), in Vienna (54th International Congress of Americanists), in Santiago de Chile (2016) and again in Buenos Aires and in Santiago (2017). Of course, they flowed through emails throughout this period. Our exchanges turned out particularly rich during the preparation of my review article about the current research on Latin American thought commissioned by Prismas for its anniversary edition (Kozel, 2015a). To develop those notes I interviewed some specialists, including Devés. This experience began at the end of 2014 and took a couple of months. During the conversations, I noticed that when insisting on the notion “eidetic studies”, Devés was somehow proposing a sort of reconfiguration of the disciplinary space, seeking to access new perspectives beyond the conclusions of his best known books. Immediately thereafter we agreed to expand on the conversations, transcribe, print, and turn them into a small volume. Devés thought that the conversational format would help him better organize the unpublished materials he had been collecting and producing in recent years. Therefore, the conversations have a central theme: the history, realities, and perspectives of diverse approaches to the study of 7 thought and ideas, focusing on Latin America but not exclusively, as will be demonstrated. It is worth noting that this volume does not simply contain the transcription of a series of talks. Though there are some parts that maintain their original spontaneity, there are many others that were reviewed and refined multiple times. On many occasions we included written materials by Devés –composed ahead of time as well as ad hoc–, highlighting several definitions, classification proposals and illustrative enumerations. Finally, a specific stylization process was made at the time of the edition, aimed at reaching a degree of argumentative coherence that, though removed from the systematic treatise, cannot precisely be characterized as conversational. During that process, redundancies were eliminated, points and references were clarified, and passages were relocated. In sum, although the colloquial atmosphere is maintained, the result is more a series of conversations that have been re-worked, rearranged and enriched, as opposed to being a mere transcription. Therefore, it is closer to a kind of essay than the traditional interview. As I anticipated, one of the innovations that are introduced here is the notion “eidetic studies”. A good part of the conversations revolves around clarifying this proposal, how it relates to preexisting traditions, its similarities and differences with respect to other approaches, as well as how to understand their connections to other disciplines. It is important to clarify that the notion “eidetic studies” is offered both to characterize what has happened and still happens in this field of studies as well as to shape discussions on the future of this field. Thus, the proposal has a dual dimension: along with describing and analyzing, it outlines a heuristic and a program. I have found multiple elements of Devés’ work quite interesting, since I read his El pensamiento latinoamericano en el siglo XX, whose three volumes I went through during my years in Mexico (2000-2010), using them to organize my courses then and after (Devés, 2004b, 2003, 2000). The first element is his respectful relationship with the intellectual legacy of Latin America and, more particularly, what is commonly referred to as the study of the history of the Latin American thought and ideas. On several occasions. Devés has situated himself in the channel opened by the contributions of figures like Leopoldo Zea and Arturo Andrés Roig. As will be demonstrated, Devés proposal outline a critical rediscovery of that legacy, but not a 8 tabula rasa operation, so inconvenient in cultural mediums such as ours, where it has always been difficult to accumulate and enhance dialogic densities. Another valuable element of Devés’ work, which simultaneously connects with the pursuits of Zea at his best, is its focus on Latin America, in particular its eidetic dynamic, as a part of the peripheral world. His book Pensamiento periférico has provided important contributions to this field, as the notion of peripheral thought itself is a bold and exciting work hypothesis (Devés, 2017a, 2014). Devés studies intellectual networks and the phenomenon of the circulation of ideas, while being a notably active protagonist in both areas. Apart from being the co-founder of the Corredor de las ideas and the Internacional del Conocimiento, he is also an avid traveler. Another element of interest is Devés’ willingness to honestly question himself over the meaning of these studies, understanding the idea of meaning in every respect, even the one related to practical utility. Devés cares about history, of course, but he also cares, maybe more so, about helping our societies “to think more and better”. The introduction of the concepts “eidetic development”, “applied eidology”, and others related notions, emerged from this concern, which is not exclusive nor primarily historiographical. Closely related to this, it must be stated, is his insistence on working in the delineation of “our own (South-American) agenda” and the consolidation of a “self-sustained intellectuality”. His willingness to go deep into fields related to the “eidetic futures” should also be enumerated here. Another stimulating element has to do with Devés openness to think about eidetic studies in relation to what happens within other disciplines, both the most proximate, such as philosophy, history, literary and cultural studies, social sciences, linguistics, cognitive sciences; as well as those in principle more distant, whose development, in his opinion, may aid a better formulation and comprehension of a series of crucial problems. That’s the case of biology, for instance, which is mentioned several times throughout these conversations about the life of ideas. His desire to venture into the abysmal fields related to human origins, his predilection for the delineation of analogies between what happens in the eidetic realms and what happens in other vital areas, his knowledge and recovery of elements of the work of thinkers such as Francisco Varela and others, who may be mentioned more times than it would be expected in an 9 attempt of this nature, are demonstrative of this Devesian opening. The current overview of studies related to Latin American thought is vast and variegated. There is an almost incomprehensible profusion of works, approaches, and spaces. The eidetic studies proposal aspires to, as mentioned previously, participate in the debates related to the subject by contributing